Pacifica Military History Free Sample Chapters.pmd

326 Pacifica Military History
Note: The following article is excerpted from the book
GUADALCANAL: Decision at Sea by Eric Hammel. The book is
currently available in a $27.50 trade paperback edition published
by Pacifica Military History. It is also available in ebook editions.
THE ATLANTA’S ORDEAL
by Eric Hammel
Copyright 1988 © by Eric Hammel
It is Friday the Thirteenth of November, 1942. Thirteen U.S. Navy
cruisers and destroyers are prowling the waters off Savo Island, adjacent
to Guadalcanal, in the hope of forestalling a bombardment force of
Imperial Navy warships, including two battleships. The USS Atlanta is
the fifth ship in the American column, behind a vanguard of four
destroyers and followed by several cruisers and several additional
destroyers. The enemy is out there, somewhere.
At 0150, one sharp searchlight beam from destroyer Akatsuki penetrated
the blackness toward the highest near silhouette in the American column.
The light from off her port bow struck Atlanta on the port wing of her
bridge, startling all who stood in its sharp luminescence. The source of
the light was so close and the light itself was so intense that Lt Stew
Moredock, RAdm Norman Scott’s operations officer, could just about
feel the heat it was throwing off.
Instantaneously, Atlanta’s gunnery officer shifted his attention from
a solid radar target crossing from port to starboard due north and 3,000
yards ahead and yelled, “Commence firing! Counterilluminate!”
As all four of her 36-inch searchlights snapped on, Atlanta be-came
the first ship on either side to open fire. Immediately, her after group of
four dual 5-inch mounts put out rounds straight up the cone of light,
right at the searchlights themselves, right at Akatsuki. The target was
only 1,600 yards to port, too close to miss.