Philippines and Vietnam. She called at Da Nang and then proceeded to "Yankee Station" for surveillance duty. The ship was relieved on 22 May 1969 and sailed, via Hong Kong, for Singapore. However, on 3 June 1969 the tug went to the assistance of destroyer which had collided with the Australian aircraft carrier . Evans had been cut in two and only the stern section was afloat. Tawasa took the section in tow and returned it to Subic Bay before continuing on her original voyage. She was at Singapore on 16 June and 17 June 1969, and left for Vũng Tàu with YF-866 in tow. She dropped off the lighter on 19 June 1969, and picked up a repair barge the next day before proceeding via Subic Bay to Guam. After returning to Subic Bay on 8 July, Tawasa made two additional voyages to Vũng Tàu before returning to San Diego on 24 September 1969. North Pacific operations Tawasa was deployed to the western Pacific again from 16 March to 4 October 1970, and from 8 November 1972 to 15 June 1973. In 1971, the tug deployed to Kodiak from July to November to serve as a search and rescue vessel. Final decommissioning After returning to San Diego in 1973, Tawasa remained in California waters until 1 April 1975 when she was decommissioned and struck from the Navy List. She was sold for scrapping by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS), 1 August 1976. Awards Tawasa received three battle stars for World War II service: Gilbert Islands operation; 26 November to 8 December 1943 Marshall Islands operation; Occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls, 31 January to 18 February 1944; Occupation of Eniwetok Atoll, 18 February to 2 March 1944 Marianas operation; Assault and occupation of Saipan, 11 June to 7 July 1944 Two battle stars for Korean operations: Korean Defense Summer-Fall 1952; 19 July to 10 August 1952, 3 November to 30 November 1952 Third Korean Winter; 1 December to 5 December 1952, 29 December 1952 to 3 January 1953 Seven campaign stars for Vietnam Crisis: Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase IV; 15 April to 20 May 1968, 30 May to 30 June 1968 Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase V; 1 July to 13 July 1968 Tet 69/Counteroffensive; 20 April to 24 May 1969, 2 June to 4 June 1969 Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969; 13 June to 14 June 1969, 18 June