USS Atlanta (CL-51)

Atlanta

Ship data flag  United States Ship type Light cruiser class Atlanta- class Shipyard Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company , Kearny Launch September 6, 1941 Commissioning December 24, 1941 Whereabouts Sunk on November 13, 1942

Ship dimensions and crew length 164.9 m ( Lüa ) width 16.1 m Draft Max. 6.25 m displacement Standard: 6,000 ts Maximum: 7,400 tn.l.   crew 673 men

Machine system machine 4 steam boilers 2 geared turbines Machine performance 75,000 PS (55,162 kW) Top speed 33.6 kn (62 km / h)

Armament 16 × Sk 12.7 cm L / 38 9 × Flak 2.8 cm L / 75 8 × torpedo tube ⌀ 53.3 cm Armor Belt: 27-89 mm Deck: 32 mm Towers: 32 mm

The USS Atlanta was a light cruiser of the United States Navy and was the first such ship with 6,000  ts standard displacement built by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Kearny , New Jersey . It was assigned the hull number CL-51. She belonged to the Atlanta class named after her .

history

After its commissioning on December 24, 1941, it made its maiden voyage along the American Atlantic coast . At the beginning of April 1942 she set course for the Pacific .

Your first mission during the Pacific War was escorting a convoy in the South Pacific. Then she was assigned to the task force with the aircraft carriers Enterprise and Hornet , with which she took part in the Battle of Midway in June 1942 .

In mid-July 1942, the ship left Pearl Harbor to take part in operations in the South Pacific. At the beginning of the Battle of Guadalcanal in early August, she escorted the aircraft carriers that supported the landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi .

Later in the month accompanied Atlanta the Enterprise in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons and protected the Saratoga after this by a Japanese torpedo had been hit.

The Atlanta approaches the San Francisco for fuel

For the next several months their main task was to protect smaller units during the ongoing battle for Guadalcanal. After the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands , in which she was only remotely involved, they moved their operations closer and closer to the main island. On October 30, Atlanta bombed Japanese positions on Guadalcanal with their guns, and about two weeks later their anti-aircraft guns fired Japanese planes that attacked American transport and supply ships.

On the night of November 12th to 13th, 1942, the Atlanta flagship of a task force under Rear Admiral Norman Scott , which consisted of cruisers and destroyers and had the order to intercept Japanese ships that wanted to bomb Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. The following naval battle of Guadalcanal was a chaotic battle that was fought in bad weather and with only limited visibility. It is considered to be one of the most brutal naval battles of the Second World War and both sides suffered high material and personnel losses. The Atlanta suffered severe damage from a Japanese torpedo hit and further artillery fire from enemy and own ships. Rear Admiral Scott was killed in the attacks. Although the crew tried to save the ship all day of November 13, it was abandoned and sunk in the afternoon on the orders of their commanding officer.

The Atlanta lies on her port side off Lunga Point in Savo Sound known as Ironbottom Sound. The wreck was investigated using ROVs in 1991 and 1992 . Divers later visited the shipwreck. In 2011, Atlanta , which is 130 m deep, was dived and filmed again. The documentary Return to the USS Atlanta was created from the footage .

Web links

Commons : USS Atlanta  - collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

• History of Atlanta III (CL-51) in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)
• Web site for crew member WE Edwards about the USS Atlanta

Footnotes

1. ^ [1] USS Atlanta Project

Coordinates: 9 ° 23 ′ 0 ″  S , 159 ° 58 ′ 0 ″  E