Following a series of inspections and a tender availability, "Benner" departed Long Beach on 8 October for another Far Eastern deployment. After brief stops at Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Yokosuka, she arrived on "Yankee Station" on 13 November. With the prohibition against attacks on targets in North Vietnam in effect since 1 November, the destroyer's duties were limited to plane guard and ASW screen operations to protect TF 77's carriers as they attacked targets in Laos, South Vietnam, and Cambodia. Aside from brief diversions to cover — the primary sea-air rescue ship in the Tonkin Gulf — "Benner" spent the majority of this cruise screening on "Yankee Station".