On 3 May 1952 the USS Nicholas departed Pearl Harbor for Korea. A temporary replacement vessel in DesDiv 112, she served first with TF77 and then swung around the peninsula to the gun line off the Korean east coast and operated there, under CTF95, until sailing for home in July. She returned to Korea with CortDesDiv 12 in November and remained in the Far East until 20 May 1953 performing missions similar to her 1951 deployment. After Korea Nicholas rotated duty in WestPac with 1st Fleet assignments. Her 7th Fleet deployments took her from Japan to Sumatra, while EastPac assignments ranged primarily from Hawaii to the west coast. On occasion 1st Fleet duty sent her to the Central Pacific as in 1954 when she assisted in Operation Castle, an atomic test series.