Ship History
Atlanta was built at Kearny, NJ. Laid down on April 22, 1940 and launched on September 6, 1941. Commissioned on December 24, 1941 then departed for the Pacific during early April 1942.

Wartime History
After a escort voyage to the South Pacific in May, she became part of a task force built around USS Enterprise and USS Hornet, operating with them during the early June Battle of Midway.

In mid-July 1942 left Pearl Harbor for operations in the southern Pacific. She screened the carriers that supported the landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi during August 1942.

Later in the month, she escorted USS Enterprise during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons and protected USS Saratoga after that carrier was damaged by a Japanese submarine torpedo.

During the next two months, she kept busy escorting combat and auxiliary ships engaged in the ongoing struggle to hold Guadalcanal.

After providing distant support during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in late October, she was employed closer to Guadalcanal. On 30 October, she used her five-inch guns to bombard Japanese positions Guadalcanal and nearly two weeks later, on 11-12 November, her guns helped fight off enemy planes attacking U.S. transports and supply ships nearby.

Sinking History
During the night of November 12-13 1942 during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, USS Atlanta was part of a cruiser-destroyer force ordered to stop the Japanese bombardment of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal.

During the battle, after being illuminated by searchlight from the Japanese destroyer Akatsuki, Atlanta was torpedo by either Inazuma or Ikazuchi, but the vessel was also hit by other enemy and friendly fire suffering heavy casualties among her crew and was almost completely disabled. Though her men worked throughout the following day, by late afternoon she was clearly sinking and the captain ordered her scuttled and the remaining crew to be rescued.

Shipwreck
Sunk in Iron Bottom Sound at a depth of roughly 430'. Resting on her port side off Lunga Point on Guadalcanal.

The shipwreck was briefly examined during 1991-92 by remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) during a search led by Robert Ballard. The footage was used in the National Geographic: The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal documentary aired in 1993.

First dived using SCUBA by Kevin Denlay and Terrence Tysall in November 1995 and then thoroughly explored in detail on several dedicated expeditions led by them in the following years.

During May 2011, a team of six divers from G.U.E., with the object of gathering HD video footage for a TV documentary, made six dives on the shipwreck using rebreathers with local operator Neil Yates / Tulagi Dive.

Veterans
Stewart Moredock (interviewed in National Geographic: The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal)

Relatives
Richard Nunziato adds:
"Carmen Nunziato, was (is) a crew member of the USS Atlanta CL-51. He is 85 years old. He is very proud of the Atlanta and the others who served onboard."

References
USN Historical Center - USS Atlanta (CL-51), 1941-1942 [photos]
USSAtlanta.com by Don Edwards
National Geographic: The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal
The Lost Ships of Guadalcanal pages 19, 126-135, 138-139, 142, 145-146, 150, 164, 200-201 (map) 205-206, 208 (ROV dive photos)
Thanks to Kevin Denlay for additional information

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Last Updated
January 23, 2012

430'