Fidelity first arrived at her home port, Charleston, South Carolina, 1 May 1955, and through the next year ranged widely in the western $3, serving with the Mine Countermeasures Station at Panama City, Florida, participating in fleet exercises, and calling at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Between 29 August 1957 and 13 February 1958, she served her first tour of duty in the Mediterranean with the U.S. 6th Fleet, joining in sweeping exercises as well as a large scale NATO training operation.