A worthwhile history of a charismatic short-lived ship.

Ship histories can be rattling good narratives while using their subjects as examples to illuminate complex interactions with strategy, tactics, and technologies, the industrial base and, most important, the people aboard. A book-length ship history has scope to show these inputs and how the subject fitted into peacetime development and training or wartime operations.

Most ship histories are written about good or happy ships (with HMS Bounty being a notable exception). Every ship and crew develops a distinct personality, seldom described in official documents, that cannot be expressed in quantitative terms nor analyzed in terms of functionality. The author portrays the Atlanta and its crew as heroic, as the title says.

The author is well qualified. A retired US Navy commander with a doctorate in history, he was a staff historian at the Naval Historical Foundation. The book relies primarily on the Atlanta’s logs and combat reports, supplemented by material drawn from published and unpublished memoirs, personal accounts, oral histories, press reports and the Navy’s historical files. Together, they provide a critical mass of sources to tell the story of the ship and crew beyond that provided by the official sources.

In less than a year, the Atlanta was part of revolutionary changes in naval warfare, reflecting the impact of aircraft, radar, communications, cryptography, and improvements in firepower and propulsion. The Atlanta missed out on the Battle of the Coral Sea by days. In the battles of Midway (where it was the only light cruiser), Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz, the Atlanta screened US carriers, encountering Japanese naval airpower while it still retained its pre-war effectiveness. On 13 November 1942, the Atlanta was one of two flagships of a US Navy task force sent to block a Japanese bombardment of Guadalcanal. In the confused close-range night action, the Atlanta was torpedoed and battered by both Japanese and US gunfire, suffering heavy casualties, including Rear Admiral Norman Scott, killed on the bridge. The Atlanta was scuttled the next morning.

The Atlanta’s story, cut short by skillful and proficient opponents, reflected the cumulative and cascading effects both of changes in naval warfare and of the US Navy’s rapid adaptation to them, shaped by deficient decisions, constrained resources and imperfect intelligence and awareness. Admiral Scott was on the bridge of the Atlanta because he decided to rely on visual information rather than SC radar. A year later, admirals started fighting battles not on the bridge of their flagships, but from radar-equipped combat information centers.

The book’s focus is on combat and operations. The Second World War at sea was shaped by technology, but this gets less coverage. The Atlanta’s 16-gun main battery of dual-purpose 5-inch 38 caliber guns was integrated with the Mark 37 fire control system, late-1930s high technology. The Atlanta’s short range anti-aircraft armament proved inadequate, and there was only limited opportunity to upgrade it. The SC radar, its capabilities and limitations, needs to be explained to the reader. The narrative only briefly touches on why the US Navy switched from building big light cruisers (intended primarily to screen high value units from surface threats) to the Atlanta class of smaller, fast light cruisers intended to work with destroyers, including, in an unprecedented move, ordering a second batch of cruisers built to the Atlanta’s design, with slight modification. These joined the fleet later in the war.

If the Atlanta was good, why was it good? High speed? Its main battery and fire control? Its officers and crew? The Navy used the cruiser to attract volunteers from the south; a tenth of those aboard were from Georgia. But the treatment of the Atlanta’s crew raises more questions than are answered. How did the widespread personnel turbulence seen throughout the Navy after Pearl Harbor affect the Atlanta? Nor does the author examine the decision to scuttle the Atlanta and how that was subsequently perceived by the Navy’s leaders. The Atlanta’s commanding officer did not receive command of another major warship.

The book’s narrative keeps the reader engaged in a compelling account, intended for a general audience rather than specialists. The writing is generally clear, but in need of editing. Graphics and illustrations are limited to a single chart and 24 black and white photographs interspersed with the text, only a few of the Atlanta and crew. The omission of any external and internal general arrangement drawings, along with maps and charts of operations described, is a drawback. Just as technology is an integral part of the Atlanta’s story, effective use of illustration is part of telling that story.

The Bureau of Ships Record Group 19 records held by the National Archives at College Park Maryland would have provided information on how the ship was built and modified. Recent articles (Warship International and Naval History amongst them) and books such as those by Norman Friedman on fire control, would also have added to the story. Wargamers and model builders, who buy lots of books, would like to know how the Atlanta was camouflaged. Despite its gaps in coverage and sourcing and the weakness of its illustrations, The Mighty A is a worthwhile history of a charismatic short-lived ship.

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Our Reviewer: David Isby, a veteran historian, defense analyst, and war game designer, covered the Soviet-Afghan War from the front lines. His books include The Decisive Duel: Spitfire vs. 109 (London: Little Brown, 2012), Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires: A New History of the Borderland (New York: Pegasus, 2011, and Jane’s Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (London: Harper Collins, 1999). and Fighter Combat in the Jet Age (London: Harper Collins, 1997), and he is the author of articles for Air International, Air Forces Monthly and other magazines. A pilot, he has flown B-17s. His previous reviews include A Military History of Afghanistan, The Elite: The A–Z of Modern Special Operations Forces, Taranto and Naval Air Warfare in the Mediterranean, Airpower in the War against ISIS, Korean Air War: Sabres, MiGs and Meteors, 1950–53, How the Army Made Britain a Global Power, Modern South Korean Air Power, Dirty Eddie's War, Air Battle for Moscow, 1941-1942, The Eastern Fleet and the Indian Ocean, A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940-45, Volume Five, From the Fall of Rome to the End of the War, 1944-1945, The Mighty Eighth, Under the Southern Cross: The South Pacific Air Campaign Against Rabaul, Rearming the RAF for the Second World War , Red Dragon 'Flankers': China's Prolific 'Flanker' Family, The Cactus Air Force, Eagles Overhead, Bomber Command, Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin, Victory to Defeat: The British Army 1918–40, To Do the Work of Men, Churchill, Chamberlain and Appeasement, The US Eighth Air Force in World War II, and Churchill's Eagles.

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Note: The Mighty A is also available in e-editions.

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