The threat of Hurricane Gilbert in the Gulf of Mexico forced an early launching of the ship, as a precautionary measure, on 15 September 1988.

He was succeeded by Commander James P. Driscoll, and in October 2000, the ship was ordered on an emergency deployment to support UNITAS 2000 in the South Pacific after USS La Moure County had run aground on an underwater mountain off the coast of Valparaíso, Chile suffering catastrophic damage.

On 25 August 2005 Tortuga and her crew were pulled from a training exercise and sent to New Orleans to become part of Joint Task Force Katrina.

She was the first Navy warship to sail up the Mississippi River following the hurricane and berthed on the West Bank of New Orleans Naval Station.

Tortuga's crew conducted rescue missions in the flooded Ninth Ward and assisted local officials from St. Bernard Parish.

Crew members employed combat rubber raiding craft (CRRCs) which allowed them to search flooded areas with many underwater obstacles.

As water receded in New Orleans and the CRRCs became useless, the ship served as the headquarters for the 618th ESC "Nasty", and the 307th Engineer Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division U.S. Army camped out on the Naval Station, while they worked in conjunction with U.S. Navy units to conduct rescue and clean up missions.

Tortuga arrived in Sasebo 31 March 2006 for turnover and assignment as part of the U.S. Navy's Forward Deployed Naval Forces (FDNF).

[2] As part of Operation Tomodachi, the ship transported Japanese Self-Defense Force personnel and equipment from Hokkaido to Honshu island.