USS Sustain (AM-119) was an Auk-class minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.

Sustain departed Cleveland, Ohio on 15 November and headed for Quebec to await the forming of a convoy which she was to escort.

On that date, Sustain got underway with a Bermuda-bound convoy which, upon arrival, joined other ships there destined for North Africa.

She returned to Oran and operated along the Algerian coast until 27 June when she joined a convoy for Tunis which arrived there two days later.

The invasion fleet sortied on 8 July and, on the afternoon of the next day, Sustain and Steady were detached to proceed ahead of it.

Sustain stood out of Mers El Kébir on 5 September with Task Force (TF) 81 with a convoy en route to the Gulf of Salerno.

The remainder of September and the early part of October were spent in sweeping operations and "E-boat" patrols, occasionally broken by escort duty between Bizerte and Salerno.

Sustain was at Naples in mid-January 1944 and attached to an invasion fleet to participate in "Operation Shingle", the amphibious landing of Allied forces 60 miles behind the German lines in the Anzio-Nettuno area.

Sustain continued on patrol and sweeping duty until 4 October at which time she returned to Bizerte via Naples, Italy.

Sustain and her squadron joined a convoy of LST's and LCI's that sailed for the United States on 24 November.

This duty lasted until 30 August when her area of operations was changed to Kagoshima, Kyūshū, to clear the bay so that occupation troops could be landed.

During November and December, she swept mines in the East China Sea, off Takao, Formosa, and the southwest coast of that island.