In between her deployments to the Middle East, Valcour conducted local operations out of Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek at Virginia Beach, Virginia; Guantanamo Bay; and Kingston, Jamaica. Around 1960 Valcour received some conspicuous equipment upgrades, including a tripod mast with a newer air search radar and a tall communications antenna which, with its deckhouse, replaced the quadruple 40-millimeter antiaircraft gun mount on her fantail. In 1965, she qualified as a "blue nose" by crossing the Arctic Circle during operations in the Norwegian Sea.
