USS Tolman ( DM - 28 ) USS " Tolman " ( DD - 740 / DM - 28 / MMD - 28 ) was a " Robert H . Smith " - class destroyer minelayer in the United States Navy . She was named for Commander Charles E . Tolman . " Tolman " was laid down as DD - 740 on 10 April 1944 at Bath , Maine , by the Bath Iron Works ; reclassified a destroyer minelayer and redesignated DM - 28 on 19 July ; launched on 13 August 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs . Helen Tolman ; and commissioned on 27 October 1944 , Commander Clifford Arthur Johnson in command . Transfer to Pacific . The minelayer held her shakedown training off Bermuda during November and December and returned , via Norfolk , Virginia , to Boston , Massachusetts . On 13 January 1945 , " Tolman " departed Boston to escort to the west coast . She called at San Diego on the 27th and then escorted to Hawaii . She participated in exercises at Pearl Harbor until 23 February before heading for Eniwetok and Ulithi . On 19 March , " Tolman " sortied from Ulithi with Task Group 52 . 4 to provide fire support and antisubmarine screening for the minesweepers clearing channels prior to the amphibious assault on the Ryukyu Islands . On 22 March , she began clearing the approaches to the beaches of Okinawa . Okinawa campaign . Shortly after midnight on 28 March , she encountered eight Japanese motor torpedo boats . They closed to 4 , 000 yards when " Tolman " opened fire with her 5 - inch and 40 - millimeter batteries . The DM increased her speed to 34 knots and maneuvered radically to avoid torpedo es . Two of the enemy boats exploded and sank as the remainder laid a smoke screen . The minelayer briefly lost contact , but used radar - controlled fire against the remaining boats and fired star shells to ferret them out . The last boat was seen to slow , apparently in trouble , just before it was blown up . The ship evidently made a clean sweep of the torpedo boats as a search revealed nothing , and no boats had been seen leaving the area . Later that morning , " Tolman " was approximately 500 yards from when " Skylark " struck and detonated a mine against her hull . As " Tolman " moved in to pass a tow line to the stricken ship , " Skylark " hit a second mine and began settling rapidly . " Tolman " backed full to clear the mined area , but her boats , together with PC - 1228 and PC - 1179 , rescued 105 survivors . On 29 March , during several air attacks , " Tolman " reported downing one plane of three in the first raid ; one of two in the second attack ; and , with the aid of and , two of three in the third . Later , she shot down a kamikaze that was approaching her in a suicide dive . The minelayer then proceeded to Kerama Retto to transfer " Skylark ' s " survivors to other ships . On the morning of 30 March , " Tolman " contacted three Japanese torpedo boats at a range of 3 , 000 yards . She went ahead at flank speed and made a hard turn to port . One torpedo passed astern and another was reported off her starboard bow . A third exploded astern , causing considerable vibration . On 3 April , she screened Transport Division 17 to a waiting area approximately 150 miles southeast of Okinawa and remained there for 10 days before returning to the Hagushi beaches . " Tolman " grounded off Nagunna Reef on the morning of 19 April and remained aground . Two tugs then pulled her free on the 25th , and towed her to Kerama Retto for repairs . She entered drydock on 15 May and was not ready for sea until late in June . On 28 June , the ship got underway for the United States . After arriving at San Pedro on 21 July , she began permanent repairs that were completed on 8 November . Post World War II and fate . The minelayer stood out for the Far East early in December and arrived at Sasebo on the day after Christmas . She operated out of Sasebo until February 1946 and then shifted her base of operations to Pusan , Korea , for three months . The ship began the return voyage to California on 4 May and arrived at San Francisco on 27 May 1946 . Proceeding down the coast to San Diego in January 1947 , she was decommissioned on 29 January 1947 . " Tolman " was reclassified a fast minelayer , MMD - 28 , in January 1969 . She was struck from the Navy list on 1 December 1970 . After being struck from the Navy List , " Tolman " was utilized as a target ship up and down the California coast for many years . Since " Tolman " was decommissioned in 1947 , and not used again , by the 1980s , " Tolman " was a treasure trove of wartime parts . At that time , the caretakers of the removed several tons of hard to find parts , to help restore the " Kidd " to her wartime appearance . After 25 years of being used for target practice and spare parts , " Tolman " was sunk as a target on 25 January 1997 . " Tolman " received one battle star for World War II service . As of 2009 , no other ship has been named " Tolman " .