She cleared New London on 31 January 1966 to participate in Operation "Springboard." Three days out of port, the ship was ordered to the Mediterranean to join in the search for the nuclear weapon missing after the mid-air collision of a B-52 bomber with a KC-135 tanker aircraft. Upon her arrival off Palomares, Spain, "Tringa" was fitted out with underwater television equipment with which she conducted visual inspections of sonar contacts while her divers assisted in the recovery. The submarine rescue ship completed her part of the operation on 25 March and headed back to New London, where she arrived on 9 April. Local operations out of New London occupied her time until the end of September when she entered the James S. Munro Shipyard at Chelsea, Massachusetts, for overhaul.