USS Tumult ( AM - 127 ) USS " Tumult " ( AM - 127 ) was an acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing . " Tumult " was laid down on 21 July 1941 at Chickasaw , Alabama , by the Gulf Shipbuilding Corp . ; launched on 19 April 1942 ; sponsored by Mrs . D . M . Pierce ; and commissioned on 27 February 1943 , Comdr . Charles E . Judge , USNR , in command . US East Coast , 1943 . Following tests and fitting out , " Tumult " began escort duties on the Eastern Sea Frontier late in March 1943 . In April , the new minesweeper participated in anti - submarine warfare training out of Key West , Florida . On the 21st , she began minesweeping , fueling , and anti - aircraft drills in company with other minesweepers on Virginia ' s York River . Then , on the 24th , she got underway for Bermuda and searched en route for survivors from the freighter SS " Santa Catalina " which had been sunk . " Tumult " discovered debris and a life ring on the 26th but failed to find any survivors . Following repairs at Norfolk , Virginia , the minesweeper escorted a group of small coastal transports which departed from Charleston , South Carolina , on 15 May . The short voyage to Key West , Florida afforded her practice in escort procedures . Pacific operations , 1943 – 1945 . Convoy escort . " Tumult " got underway again on the 20th and set her course for the Panama Canal and the $ 3 . Early in June , she paused briefly at Manzanillo , Mexico , to obtain emergency medical aid for a member of her crew and then continued on to San Diego , California . Provisioning , exercises , and repairs there occupied the remainder of June and most of July . On 21 July , the minesweeper got underway for San Francisco where she remained throughout most of August . On the 28th , she finally set course for the Pacific war zone , escorting a convoy of vulnerable , slow - moving , cargo vessels which pulled a section of portable dock . " Tumult " spent the entire month of September shepherding these awkward charges across the Pacific . On 2 October , having safely delivered the convoy , " Tumult " anchored at Espiritu Santo . Throughout the remainder of 1943 and into 1944 , " Tumult " escorted convoys among the Solomon Islands and between the Solomons and New Caledonia . Short periods of availability at Espiritu Santo and mine - sweeping exercises off Savo Island varied the sweeper ' s duties until late in June when she departed Port Purvis for a week of recreation and rehabilitation in Sydney , Australia . In July , she returned to the Solomons to resume the familiar routine of convoy protection . Invasion of Peleliu . Late in August , she participated in tactical maneuvers and minesweeping exercises in the Russells preparing for the impending assault on the Palaus . Underway from Guadalcanal on 8 September , " Tumult " screened her task group on station until her arrival off Peleliu on D - Day , 15 September 1944 . Early that morning , she began sweeps off Angaur Island and , during the days which followed , alternated minesweeping duties with patrolling and screening of the transport area . Invasion of Ulithi . " Tumult " got underway from Peleliu on 19 September and set her course for yet another island strike — the assault on Ulithi . She arrived off the atoll on 21 September and , through the following days , swept for mines to prepare this prize anchorage for use by American vessels . On 23 September , the day of the unopposed landings , she swept 21 mines before a contact mine fouled her gear and forced her to retire to the disposal area to rid herself of both her port sweeping gear and the otherwise inextricable , offending mine . " Tumult " departed Ulithi on 25 September with a convoy of transports bound for Dutch New Guinea . Invasion of the Philippines . After repairs , she departed Manus on 10 October 1944 with a sweeping unit of task group TG 77 . 5 bound for the Philippines . On the 17th , " Tumult " began sweeping Surigao Strait in gale force winds ; and on the 19th — the day before General MacArthur ' s landing on Leyte — she swept 26 contact mines which attested to the thoroughness of the Japanese defenses . On the 23rd , she anchored in the transport area of Leyte Gulf . In the days that followed , Japanese air raiders kept anti - aircraft crews busy ; and , on the 25th , " Tumult ' s " gunners scored a hit on a " Val " which went down in flames two miles ( 3 km ) off the port quarter . The next day , " Tumult " fired on 11 Japanese planes and had reason to thank her luck as a bomb dropped away off her starboard bow . Later that day , she splashed a " Sally " which went down one mile ( 1 . 6 km ) off her port bow . On the 28th , " Tumult " got underway for Manus . After repairs at Seeadler Harbor , she set her course eastward and steamed via Pearl Harbor and San Francisco , California to Portland , Oregon , and arrived there on 7 December . " Tumult " underwent overhaul and shakedown on the U . S . West Coast ; then departed Long Beach , California , on 23 April 1945 . Okinawa operations . She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 1 May for a week of exercises before rendezvousing with a convoy bound for the Marianas . On 22 May , she arrived at Guam but soon was underway again with a slow - moving convoy steaming for Okinawa . On 4 June , typhoon winds forced the convoy , whose tows and tugs were experiencing extreme difficulty in holding course , to disperse . Two days elapsed before rendezvous with the last of the stragglers had been achieved . On the 9th , " Tumult " screened the convoy as it entered Buckner Bay , and then she proceeded on to Kerama Retto . On the 11th , the minesweeper began patrolling off Okinawa . As she steamed on station on the evening of the 16th , explosions rent the night , and fire illuminated the horizon some eight miles ( 13 km ) away as destroyer went down , the victim of a kamikaze . " Tumult " continued on picket off Okinawa until 30 June , with only brief respites at Kerama Retto for availability and provisioning . She then participated in four days of exercises before setting course for sweeps in area " Juneau " of the East China Sea . On 17 July , Tumult was provisioning at Buckner Bay when a typhoon warning prompted her to depart on short notice , leaving behind her navigator and engineering officer as she headed out to sea . For three days , she steamed northward outdistancing the typhoon ; then returned to Okinawa to complete her interrupted logistic tasks . Post - war operations , 1945 – 1954 . In Japanese waters . As the war ended , " Tumult " was sweeping in area " Skagway " off the coast of Kyūshū , Japan . A few days later , she rendezvoused with the U . S . 3rd Fleet as it steamed northward . On 28 August , " Tumult " and three other minesweepers swept past the headlands of Tokyo Bay and into the harbor . The once busy Japanese port presented a bleak and unnervingly quiet appearance . Only a single battleship , , and a few smaller vessels remained ; and a lone beached destroyer added to the desolation of the scene , as the victorious American ships entered the harbor . " Tumult " immediately began sweeping the anchorage and , in the following days , helped to remove minefields at the harbor entrance . During most of September , she swept off the eastern coast of Honshū , clearing Sagami Wan and Ishinomaki Wan . While the minesweeper was anchored in Tokyo harbor on the 27th , a motor whale - boat capsized nearby in heavy seas . " Tumult " launched her own whaleboat and rescued 20 survivors from the stormy waters of the bay . Early in October , the minesweeper sat out a typhoon in Tokyo Bay ; then got underway for Sasebo where she stopped before departing Japan for sweeps in area " Klondike " in the Yellow Sea . On 30 October , accidental engine room flooding left one of " Tumult ' s " main propulsion motors inoperable , stopping her port shaft . On the first day of November , she headed for Japan and underwent repairs at Sasebo until the end of the year . In January 1946 , she steamed via Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor to San Pedro , California , arriving there on 15 February . She departed the west coast on 3 March and proceeded via the Panama Canal to Charleston , South Carolina . Atlantic . In June , she made a training cruise out of Jacksonville , Florida , and spent the rest of 1946 and most of 1947 operating along the east coast . In November of the latter year , she varied her peacetime duties with mine - sweeping off Naval Station Argentia , Newfoundland . From January 1948 until July 1952 , " Tumult " continued to operate out of $ 3 ports and made three Caribbean cruises . On 25 August 1952 , " Tumult " departed Charleston with Minesweeper Division 82 , setting her course for the British Isles . In ensuing months , the veteran minesweeper participated in NATO exercises and visited many Mediterranean ports . She returned to Charleston on 7 February 1953 and resumed her duties out of east coast ports , which she continued until 21 July 1954 when she arrived at Orange , Texas , for inactivation . Decommissioning and sale . Two months later , on 21 September 1954 , " Tumult " was placed out of commission . On 7 February 1955 , she was redesignated a steel - hulled fleet minesweeper ( MSF - 127 ) . Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 May 1967 . Her hulk was later purchased by the Southern Scrap Metal Co . , Ltd . , New Orleans , Louisiana . Awards . " Tumult " received five battle stars for World War II service .