Ship History
Atlanta was built at Kearny, NJ. Comissioned on December 24, 1941. Departed for the Pacfic in 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
On the night of 12-13 November 1942, Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, Atlanta was part of a cruiser-destroyer force ordered to stop the Japanese bombardment of Henderson Field. Atlanta was hit by a Japanese torpedo and riddled by gunfire, both enemy and friendly. Atlanta suffered 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. Sunk on her Captain's orders after all her men had been taken off.

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

Shipwreck
Lies on her port side off Guadalcanal at Lunga Point, some 500' below Iron Bottom Sound. Her wreck was briefly examined in 1991-92 by remotely-operated deep-sea vehicles and more recently by a team of civilian divers.

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