 "Cook" was commissioned for sea trials at Devonport on 6 June 1950 and carried out local surveys before completing her complement from the survey ship in January 1951.From then until December 1954 she was mainly employed in survey work off the west coast of Scotland, though she also sailed to the Gold Coast to survey there in mid-1953.In that year she also took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.