 She was renamed HMS "Fittleton" on 1 January 1976 and reassigned to the Channel Group of the Royal Naval Reserve.Regularly manned by a combination of Sussex and London Division RNR personnel (from HMS "President"), she sailed from Shoreham on 11 September 1976 with a crew largely drawn from London Division RNR to take part in Operation Teamwork, a NATO exercise in the North Sea.Following the exercise, on 20 September the ship proceeded in company with six other British minesweepers towards Hamburg for a three-day official visit to the port, after which she was to return to Shoreham.