October 1942, she formed part of the escort of a Capetown bound convoy, from which she was detached to search for U-boat Supply Ships in the Atlantic and on the 11th October returned to England having spent 42 days at sea.   Later that month QUIBERON formed part of the forces supporting the Allied landings in North Africa.   During this period the ship was subjected to frequent air attacks. On 28th November she sank the German U-boat 411 off Bone, Tunisia.

On 1st December 1942 QUIBERON sailed from Bone in company with three cruisers and three destroyers to intercept an enemy convoy bound from Sicily to Tunis.   Contact was made in the early hours of 2nd December. All four ships of the convoy were sunk and QUIBERON engaged and sank the Italian destroyer LUPO.   At dawn she rescued 182 survivors of her sister ship QUENTIN sunk by torpedo aircraft, while Quiberon herself was under heavy aircraft attack.   She suffered slight damage from several near misses.

The ship operated around North Africa on convoy and fleet escort duties for the remainder of that month and the next.   On 21st December, she took off survivors from the burning liner STRATHALLEN, which had been torpedoed off the Algerian coast by a U-boat.

At the end of January 1944, QUIBERON sailed as part of a convoy escort for South Africa and then proceeded on to Australia for the first time in her active career, having steamed 51,000 miles on war service.

After refitting at Melbourne, she returned to the Indian Ocean and at Kilindini (Kenya) in June 1943 joined the British Eastern Fleet. she spent the remainder of 1943 almost constantly at sea escorting Indian Ocean convoys.

In March, 1944, the Eastern Fleet was reinforced and was able to take the offensive. QUIBERON took part in attacks on Japanese held Sabang (April 1944) and Sourabaya (May 1944).   After these operations, QUIBERON returned to Australia for refit.

In August, 1944, QUIBERON rejoined the Eastern Fleet at Trincomalee (Sri Lanka) and in October took part in a series of bombardments of the Japanese held Nicobar Islands.

Then followed escort and Anti-submarine duties around the Australian coast and the honour of escorting the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester from Albany to Sydney.

In February, 1945, QUIBERON proceeded North with the British Pacific Fleet and until the end of the war she was at sea continuously, taking part in the assaults on Okinawa, where she gained another Battle Honour and later in the attacks on the Japanese mainland. When war ended in August 1945, she had steamed 236,000 miles on war service. No Australian destroyer had a more distinguished wartime career and only two other Australian destroyers sank enemy submarines. Like her sister ship QUICKMATCH, she was a lucky ship and suffered no casualties in action.

The end of the war brought little rest;   the ship was present at the re-occupation of Shanghai and then served in the East Indies until January, 1946, retrieving prisoners-of-war and troop carrying.

April, 1946, saw the commencement of her first tour of Japanese occupation duties. She reached Sydney at the end of her third period of Far East service (March - July 1948) on 22 July 1948 and was then immobilised having steamed a total of 316,772 miles since first commissioning. In the six years of operation QUIBERON had been underway 20,452 hours 52 minutes or almost two and a half years. She 'paid off' on 15 May 1950.

QUIBERON was converted to a Fast Anti-submarine Frigate in 1951.   Apart from the hull and propelling machinery, there is little to identify her former self. Her new armament consisted of one twin Bofors mounting forward of the Bridge, one hand loaded, twin, 4 inch mounting and two triple barrel Anti-submarine mortars aft.   The conversion was commenced at Cockatoo Naval Dockyard and on the 18th December, she was commissioned and HMAS QUIBERON rejoined Her Majesty's Australian Fleet in her new guise early the following year.

On the 26th February 1958, QUIBERON had the honour of carrying Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother from Manly to Sydney Cove. In March she sailed for the Far East where exercises ere carried out with Commonwealth Naval Forces.

From 1958, QUIBERON was on service as a unit of the F.E.S. Reserve for some months each year, including Christmas 1958, 1961, 1962. These tours involved anything up to nine months away from Australia. During this time she carried out anti-terrorist operations against the Communists during the Malayan Emergency. A Colour Guard from QUIBERON marched in the parade through Kuala Lumpur to celebrate the end of the Malay Emergency.

In 1959 QUIBERON escorted the vessel PRINCESS OF TASMANIA on her maiden voyage to Devonport, the start of the 'sea road' service to the Island State.

On 6th July 1963, QUIBERON came of age - 21 years old. This date coincided with the eve of her departure for a further period of service with the Strategic Reserve, adding yet to her impressive record of nearly half a million miles steamed since first commissioning in 1942. This distinguished career finally ended when she was paid off to reserve on 26th June 1964.

HMAS QUIBERON has been credited with the following Battle Honours:
Mediterranean 1942
North Africa 1942-43
Atlantic 1943
Okinawa 1945

Converted to Anti-submarine Frigate Type 15, 1951.
Decommissioned: 26th June, 1964
Sold 15th February, 1972

Cockatoo Island Dockyard - Nov 1951. Quiberon (outboard) Quickmatch (inboard) bottom left.