As landsman on board the USS Metacomet, Noble served among the boat’s crew which went to the rescue of the U.S. Monitor Tecumseh when that vessel was struck by a torpedo in passing enemy forts in Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Noble braved the enemy fire which was said by the admiral to be “one of the most galling” he had ever seen and aided in rescuing from death 10 of the crew of the Tecumseh, thereby eliciting the admiration of both friend and foe.