"Otago" took part in various Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) deployments and took part in a protest against French nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll in 1973.The protest voyage was opposed by the National Party Their leader, Jack Marshall called the deployment 'irresponsible' and a 'futile, empty gesture' and RNZN officers, as an exercise ordered by the New Zealand Federation of Labour Executive "Otago", observed the "Euterpe" test carried out on 28 July 1973, part of the 1971-74 nuclear test series.