The voyage west brought stops at Guam and Subic Bay – where "Abnaki" delivered floating crane YD-127 – before she reentered the combat zone off Vietnam. The tug arrived at Da Nang on 31 December 1968. On the morning of New Year's Day 1969, she departed Danang to pick up garbage lighter YG-52 at Subic Bay. The ship arrived there on the 3rd, departed the next morning with her charge in tow, and delivered it at Da Nang on the 8th before heading back toward Subic Bay that same day. En route, she received orders to Naha, Okinawa, to assist in the salvage of a grounded tank landing ship. She completed that mission on 19 January, reentered Subic Bay on the 24th, and headed back toward Danang on the 29th. The ship arrived there on the 31st and, on 1 February, put to sea for a 21-day tour of duty on Yankee Station. Late in the month, she towed from Cam Ranh Bay to Yokosuka. In March, she visited Tsoying, Taiwan, to train members of the Taiwanese Navy in salvage techniques. After a liberty call at Hong Kong early in April, the ship returned to Subic Bay until late in the month. She got underway on the 26th bound for Guam with the medium auxiliary floating dry dock in tow. She and her charge reached Apra Harbor on 15 May; and, on the 16th, "Abnaki" continued on toward Hawaii.