She participated in Exercises JUC 61 and HOMERUN with USN units off the New South Wales coast in March, before departing Sydney on 24 February for South East Asian waters. She visited New Guinea and Singapore before proceeding to rendezvous with Sydney to once again join the troop carrier’s escort force bound for Vietnam. On 28 April during flying operations in the Sulu Sea, one of Melbourne’s Sea Venoms crashed over the side when an arrestor wire failed on landing, and the aircraft did not regain enough airspeed to once again get airborne. The pilot, Lieutenant John da Costa, RAN, one of the FAA’s most experienced pilots, ejected before the aircraft hit the water and was later rescued by a search and rescue helicopter. The observer, Lieutenant Edward Kennell, RAN, apparently did not eject but was briefly seen in the water next to the wreckage of the Sea Venom before he disappeared. A crew member of the search and rescue helicopter entered the water but could not find him, and tragically, subsequent search and rescue efforts found no trace of him.
Melbourne rendezvoused with Sydney on 30 April and remained in company until 4 May, when she detached south of Vung Tau for Hong Kong. Later that month she participated in the SEATO exercise SEA IMP in Philippine waters. She joined Sydney’s escort group for the final time early in June, and visited Malaysia later in the month before returning home. She arrived back in Fremantle on 22 June.