April 22, 2025 • 20 mins
In this episode, I spoke with author David F. Winkler regarding his book "The Mighty A: The Mighty A: The Short, Heroic Life of the USS Atlanta (CL-51): America's First Warship Commissioned After Pearl Harbor". Prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy’s leadership discovered that the surface fleet was highly vulnerable to air attack, thanks to the introduction of drone aircraft that could simulate attacks on its warships. The Navy’s gunners simply did not have the coordinated firepower to knock them down. Recognition of this vulnerability resulted in a new class of warship led by USS Atlanta.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Ernie Pile World War
Two Museum Podcast, your podcast of Ernie Pile, the voice
of the American soldier during World War Two. My name
is Doug Us and if you're tuning in to the
Ernie Pile World War Two Museum Podcast, what I we
do on this podcast is share with you pieces of
piles life from its humble beginnings on an Indiana farm
(00:37):
to becoming a post surprise winning an American journalist and
war correspondent who is best known for his stories about
ordinary American soldiers during World War Two. And today we
have a very special guest with us today, author David F. Winkler,
with his latest book The Mighty A The short Heroic
Life of the USS Atlanta cl fifty one, America's first
(01:00):
warship commissioned after Pearl Harbor. David, Welcome to the Ernie
Power wol War two Museum Podcasts.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Great to be with him.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Well, thank you for spending a few minutes with us
today to talk about your book. And one of the
first things I always like to do with our guests,
especially our authors, is to allow them to maybe talk
a little bit about what the book is about and
what the readers listeners can expect.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Okay, well, the money is actually a compendium. The project
initially started right receive a diary from a retired admiral's
father had served as a gunnery officer in the US
as Atlanta. And I went through the diary of just
(01:47):
fascinating his perspectives as a gunnery officer on this slight
cruiser anti aircraft commissioned Christmas Eve of nineteen forty one,
just half the attack on Pearl Harber. And I had
(02:08):
this vision of writing a book about the diary and
about the ship.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
And I hitched the idea to.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
The late Jim warn Fisher, a well known World War
Two author. And warn Fisher looked at me and he says,
too much. What you have really here is two books.
So I wrote a book specifically about the diary, was
published last year, Witnessed the Neptune's Inferno. Of course, warn
(02:37):
Fisher wrote Neptune's Inferno about Guatacnal.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And you know it's at Quatacnal, that's US is Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
It's going to mean it's devise the naval Battle of
quater Canal On November thirteenth, so I published the diary
and explanation of what Mustar was thinking.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Basically, the diary was his assessment.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Of the war, and he had some unconventional views about
how the war was going.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Well.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I think a lot of folks with Quada Canal have
blamed the leadership, and Mustard was certainly not an average Canal.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
But so the first.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Books about his views on the war, and then the
ship itself in the Atlanta, the ship that he was
serving on. Uh it's the first leadership of the class
now and the second ship in the class is much
more more known, is the Juno, you know, c L
(03:48):
fifty two, and the two ships were built side by
side together in Federal dry dopting the shipbuilding in Barny,
New Jersey, and Atlanta was commissioned for first the Juno
shortly thereafter. And the interesting thing is is that both
(04:09):
ships are going to be lost on the same day,
November thirteenth, nineteen forty two. Of course, Atlanta's going to
be battered at this naval battle of Quatter Canal. It's
this night fight, and eventually Atlanta determines it's going to
have to scuttle, So in the meantime, Neptune get out
(04:30):
on the accident you know, gets away and is unfortunately
is sung by a Japanese submarine, the loss of almost
all hands. And this is where the Sullivan brothers there
are five brothers that are lost subsequently, you know, we've
(04:56):
named two destroyers of the brothers. But you know this
is where the end alone apply for saving Private Ryan
comes from. We don't want to uh uh take And
you know, there was a practice in the navy back then,
you know, to have brothers served together on the same ship.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Not after you know, the Juno.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So uh so the Atlantic kind of it doesn't get
too much focused because of what happened in the Juno
and the tragedy involved in that.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
But the Atlantic is quite a remarkable story in itself.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, and and uh, David, my understanding is, you know,
this book really covers the construction the uh I'm drawing
a complete blank uh commission of the book or the
book of the of the ship, and then also its
service as well. So it's kind of a history.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Of exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
And and interesting thing about uh the Atlanta is that
is built at the shipyard in New Jersey that's having
uh labor issues and the.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Irony is is that.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, Uh, there's a court ruling, uh that the shipyard
needs to recognize the Union, and the shipyard doesn't abide
by by the court order. So the Navy has to
come in and take over the shipyard while the ship
is under construction, and the Union welcomes the uh Navy
(06:39):
with open arms. And uh it's actually the under you know,
Navy supervision and the shipyard that uh the you know,
the ship gets finished out and built. It's ah and
then of course, uh, you know, Pearl happens, and the
(07:02):
Union and the shipyard.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
There's a kind of kumbaia there because we.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Need to build the supported in the United States.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
So NATA gets out of shipbuilding business. But it's an
interesting story the ship itself. Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
There's a recognition in nineteen thirties that we're going to
be vulnerable to air attack. I recently published a book
on the history of the USS Langley and development of
naval aviation, And you know, people are realizing that the
days of the big gun battleship are are you know
(07:38):
that is that it's going to be coming to an
end here in these airplanes are getting capable of dropping
bigger and bigger bombs.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
And right. So they realized that they need.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
A ship that's capable of knocking down these aircraft, and
Atlantic is built for that purpose.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It's got.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
You know, these instead of you know, six inch or
eight inch guns, has got these five inches and thirty
eight rapid fire twin mounts that will pump out forty
five ship shells per barrel per minute.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
It's like almost like.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
A machine gun as far as putting these shells in
the air, and the between the Atlanta and some of
these guns that are going on the battleships. It's going
to take its hall on the Japanese. You know, Atlanta's
going to be at the Battle of Midway after a
shakedown crew is you know, I write a lot about
(08:34):
training that count getting them ready for four at Midway,
it's guarding the warnet Hornet doesn't come into attack York
Town's ship that was sunk, and you know, Muston writes that, hey,
we should have been detailed to New York Town.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
To protect the New York Town. His advice wasn't heated.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Well, he was kind of a junior, but yeah, I
had Atlanta been with Yorktown, maybe Yorktown could have survived
the battle. Then there is the Battle of the Eastern
Sullivans in Sulivan's in late August, and that's where Atlanta
actually fires first time in anger against the Japanese aircraft
(09:22):
attacking the Saratoga and Enterprise. Enterprise takes it into in
that battle. But yeah, and then it's game on. So
Atlanta is now involved in the Guada Canal campaign and
it's gonna to eventually be involved in this lemagic battle
(09:47):
on November thirteenth.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
It's a two part battle.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
On November the thirteenth, you have a thirteen ship formation
that's going to take on two Japanese battleships and esporting
cruises and destroyers coming.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Down the slots. It's gonna be a night fight.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
The Japanese objective is to bombard the Henderson Field on
Quantic Canal and basically land troops and win the battle.
And it's Atlanta and you know, four other cruises and
uh eight destroyers that toward this effort.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
David.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
During the writing and research of this book, anything surprise you.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I went through, uh, you know, a lot of the diaries,
I uh, personal papers and oral histories. Library Congress Veterans
History Project had some very good recollections. Uh, and I
found some correspondence and a note. It's worth mentioning that
(10:56):
there was a more correspondent on the Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Uh and uh, you know, given that you know this
is herdie.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Should be that should be mentioned that he had comly
go on board uh the Atlanta and recorded what was
going on. And I wanted to share a part of
a letter from because Miller he's young, uh pup with
(11:28):
the United Press Association.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Uh and uh.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
He there's a tradition in a need that when you
cross the equator, there's a crossing the line ceremony, and
it's it can be pretty rough, uh you know, and
he and here's the letter.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
I'll quote two paragraphs from it.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Uh, Dear Boss, Many a time I wondered just why
the hell I ever decided to be correspondent? Ever gave
it much of a thought to the question, as I
did on a certain Sunday of a certain month that
is fained for vacations and hot weather. That Sunday, Boss,
it was the day I hailed before a long whiskered
(12:14):
jet called the Tunish Rex, ruler of the Raging Bin.
It was charged with being a pollywog. Do you know
what a polywog is, boss, Well, if you've ever, of
course equated her on the Mighty A, you'll be certainly
shocked to find out. And then he describes the rituals
(12:35):
that he endured, that other polywogs endured.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
And the thing is is that this is.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
The second time that Atlantic Cross is here equator in
this book. So the first time most of the crew
had not endeavored, and they experienced the ceremony. This time
most of the crew were shellbacks, so they were all.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Ready to you know, the new for this.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
For Bob Miller and a few other recruits had recently
came on board, they had to endure a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Well.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
To sum up his letter, his final paragraph is, as
I rate this propped up and embedded sick bay, swayed
and bay advantages insulated by several pillows. I want to
pay my respects to the surgeon. They said that he
did a magnificent job and pulled them me through. Although
you may have difficulty to recognized me as a result
(13:34):
of the surgery, you should be thankful you still have
a correspondent able to navigate. However, slow and painful, yours,
truly and very painfully, Bob Miller. No, that's great, so
I thought i'd share that with and those are you know,
some of the sources, the letters, the correspondents.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Fortunately, I started this book at a time time.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Uh when I got the diary was in the late nineties,
so it's able to actually uh meet with some of
the junior officers who were.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Still alive at the time. Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
And and and several you know, well one of them
went on to become a reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Another one h uh worked for ABC News. Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
You know, of course, you know, most of the Greatest
generation they passed on, but the captured their experiences. Uh.
In one of the cases discussing the night battle.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Of uh, you know, aquat A Canal.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Uh, this guy was he got very emotional. It's like
it was passing tissue that he went through.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Uh, you know, the carnage. And the problem was is that, well.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
They had radar and they were able to detect the
Japanese and the uh the Admiral Charger, Emerald Dan Callahan
uh decided instead of crossing it, you know, Uh it
was called the Tea, he just kind of drove his
ships into the Japanese formation.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And what was called a melee ensued. Where was everyone
on their own?
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
And in the case the Japanese uh uh search like
spotted Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Uh. And the captain.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Of the Atlanta fell by name Jenkinson counter illuminate and
uh it's uh. Bill Nicholson was the chief gunnery officer.
He said, basically, fire, you know, shoot that guy. You know,
let's let's let it shine. You know, you know, we've
(15:57):
been spotted. And sure enough they're they're able to get
around the fire at the Japanese. Before the Japanese were
able to shoot at the Atlanta, unfortunately, we had this
smokeless powder. That means that you see the gun flash
that night, and so when Atlanta started firing, it was
(16:18):
flash flash flash and everybody started firing. That was now
the Japanese their night tactics. Uh. Basically they used like
smoke powder, so you know you can see that during
the daytime. By that night that hit the flashes. So
it was, you know, a very good Japanese tactic and
it conserved them well early in the war. So Atlanta's
(16:42):
you know, it's by the time the battles over Atlanta
has taken a torpedo.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Uh it blew out the front engine room.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Uh a done, torpedo stuck in the side, and it's
riddled with the shell holds, including eight inche that was
a shot from the USS with San Francisco. So there
was a you know, blue on blue situation bus damaged.
So and I go into great detail and describing the
(17:16):
heroic efforts of the crew to you know, take care
of their shipmates and eventually, you know, keep the ship
a flow till the decision has made that.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Eight eight worth saving.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Right, Yeah. And it sounds like in a way, if
the way you're describing it is there at night, the
Atlanta was basically putting in a spotlight on itself when
it was firing.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's like here I am, yeah, shoot
me right yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
And so it took hits from all over and it
was out of action pretty early in the battle. And now,
as a result of this battle, the Japanese will lose
a battleship to height because it's so damaged that it's
going to be vulnerable to air attack the next morning.
(18:12):
And then two days later in the second battleship to
Kashima is met by the USS Washington battleship and basically
it's an amazing gunfight where Washington opens up and just
blows this battleship mountain. It's uh, so yeah, it's that's
(18:36):
a story that's very told, told very well by the
story and uh, Paul still if it spoken about.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Battleship about by Apple Willislee.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
So but Atlanta, Now, the interesting thing about Atlanta is
a lot of the crew winds off the shore in
what a canal and the Japanese, you know, they decided
to they have this relief column with transport ships and
they just run these ships up on the beach and
so that Japanese troops can scamper sure, and they were
(19:16):
like guns along the shoreline that you can see these
ships in the crude Atlanta Uh uh cruise up these
guns and just fires away at these Japanese transports that
tron on loan deership.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
So uh, the crew of Atlanta stays.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
In the fight even after you know their ship is lost.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Amazing, amazing, Well, David, and we're at a time unfortunately,
but thank you for coming on and to our listeners,
please go and get a comp of the Mighty A
The short Heroic Life of the USS Atlanta. See how
if you want America's first warship commission after Pearl Harbor.
You can find it on Amazon or wherever you purchase
your books at your local bookstore. It's a very interesting
(20:02):
story slash read, and I'm just sorry that we wasn't
able to spend more time with you today to talk
about it because it's really fascinating, but strongly encourage our
listeners to go out and get a copy of it
so they can finish the story themselves.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
I appreciate you having me on dot.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Well, thank you for spending some time with us today.
I've really enjoyed it, and again, I just appreciate you
taking some time to share this with our listeners. All right, well,
thank you for listening to this episode of the Ernie
Pyle World War Two Museum Podcast. Tune in next time
for the latest episode. We'll see you soon.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Ernie Pile World War
Two Museum Podcast, your podcast of Ernie Pile, the voice
of the American soldier during World War Two. My name
is Doug Us and if you're tuning in to the
Ernie Pile World War Two Museum Podcast, what I we
do on this podcast is share with you pieces of
piles life from its humble beginnings on an Indiana farm
(00:37):
to becoming a post surprise winning an American journalist and
war correspondent who is best known for his stories about
ordinary American soldiers during World War Two. And today we
have a very special guest with us today, author David F. Winkler,
with his latest book The Mighty A The short Heroic
Life of the USS Atlanta cl fifty one, America's first
(01:00):
warship commissioned after Pearl Harbor. David, Welcome to the Ernie
Power wol War two Museum Podcasts.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Great to be with him.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Well, thank you for spending a few minutes with us
today to talk about your book. And one of the
first things I always like to do with our guests,
especially our authors, is to allow them to maybe talk
a little bit about what the book is about and
what the readers listeners can expect.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Okay, well, the money is actually a compendium. The project
initially started right receive a diary from a retired admiral's
father had served as a gunnery officer in the US
as Atlanta. And I went through the diary of just
(01:47):
fascinating his perspectives as a gunnery officer on this slight
cruiser anti aircraft commissioned Christmas Eve of nineteen forty one,
just half the attack on Pearl Harber. And I had
(02:08):
this vision of writing a book about the diary and
about the ship.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
And I hitched the idea to.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
The late Jim warn Fisher, a well known World War
Two author. And warn Fisher looked at me and he says,
too much. What you have really here is two books.
So I wrote a book specifically about the diary, was
published last year, Witnessed the Neptune's Inferno. Of course, warn
(02:37):
Fisher wrote Neptune's Inferno about Guatacnal.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And you know it's at Quatacnal, that's US is Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
It's going to mean it's devise the naval Battle of
quater Canal On November thirteenth, so I published the diary
and explanation of what Mustar was thinking.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Basically, the diary was his assessment.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Of the war, and he had some unconventional views about
how the war was going.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Well.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I think a lot of folks with Quada Canal have
blamed the leadership, and Mustard was certainly not an average Canal.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
But so the first.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Books about his views on the war, and then the
ship itself in the Atlanta, the ship that he was
serving on. Uh it's the first leadership of the class
now and the second ship in the class is much
more more known, is the Juno, you know, c L
(03:48):
fifty two, and the two ships were built side by
side together in Federal dry dopting the shipbuilding in Barny,
New Jersey, and Atlanta was commissioned for first the Juno
shortly thereafter. And the interesting thing is is that both
(04:09):
ships are going to be lost on the same day,
November thirteenth, nineteen forty two. Of course, Atlanta's going to
be battered at this naval battle of Quatter Canal. It's
this night fight, and eventually Atlanta determines it's going to
have to scuttle, So in the meantime, Neptune get out
(04:30):
on the accident you know, gets away and is unfortunately
is sung by a Japanese submarine, the loss of almost
all hands. And this is where the Sullivan brothers there
are five brothers that are lost subsequently, you know, we've
(04:56):
named two destroyers of the brothers. But you know this
is where the end alone apply for saving Private Ryan
comes from. We don't want to uh uh take And
you know, there was a practice in the navy back then,
you know, to have brothers served together on the same ship.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Not after you know, the Juno.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So uh so the Atlantic kind of it doesn't get
too much focused because of what happened in the Juno
and the tragedy involved in that.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
But the Atlantic is quite a remarkable story in itself.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, and and uh, David, my understanding is, you know,
this book really covers the construction the uh I'm drawing
a complete blank uh commission of the book or the
book of the of the ship, and then also its
service as well. So it's kind of a history.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Of exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
And and interesting thing about uh the Atlanta is that
is built at the shipyard in New Jersey that's having
uh labor issues and the.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Irony is is that.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, Uh, there's a court ruling, uh that the shipyard
needs to recognize the Union, and the shipyard doesn't abide
by by the court order. So the Navy has to
come in and take over the shipyard while the ship
is under construction, and the Union welcomes the uh Navy
(06:39):
with open arms. And uh it's actually the under you know,
Navy supervision and the shipyard that uh the you know,
the ship gets finished out and built. It's ah and
then of course, uh, you know, Pearl happens, and the
(07:02):
Union and the shipyard.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
There's a kind of kumbaia there because we.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Need to build the supported in the United States.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
So NATA gets out of shipbuilding business. But it's an
interesting story the ship itself. Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
There's a recognition in nineteen thirties that we're going to
be vulnerable to air attack. I recently published a book
on the history of the USS Langley and development of
naval aviation, And you know, people are realizing that the
days of the big gun battleship are are you know
(07:38):
that is that it's going to be coming to an
end here in these airplanes are getting capable of dropping
bigger and bigger bombs.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
And right. So they realized that they need.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
A ship that's capable of knocking down these aircraft, and
Atlantic is built for that purpose.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It's got.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
You know, these instead of you know, six inch or
eight inch guns, has got these five inches and thirty
eight rapid fire twin mounts that will pump out forty
five ship shells per barrel per minute.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
It's like almost like.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
A machine gun as far as putting these shells in
the air, and the between the Atlanta and some of
these guns that are going on the battleships. It's going
to take its hall on the Japanese. You know, Atlanta's
going to be at the Battle of Midway after a
shakedown crew is you know, I write a lot about
(08:34):
training that count getting them ready for four at Midway,
it's guarding the warnet Hornet doesn't come into attack York
Town's ship that was sunk, and you know, Muston writes that, hey,
we should have been detailed to New York Town.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
To protect the New York Town. His advice wasn't heated.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Well, he was kind of a junior, but yeah, I
had Atlanta been with Yorktown, maybe Yorktown could have survived
the battle. Then there is the Battle of the Eastern
Sullivans in Sulivan's in late August, and that's where Atlanta
actually fires first time in anger against the Japanese aircraft
(09:22):
attacking the Saratoga and Enterprise. Enterprise takes it into in
that battle. But yeah, and then it's game on. So
Atlanta is now involved in the Guada Canal campaign and
it's gonna to eventually be involved in this lemagic battle
(09:47):
on November thirteenth.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
It's a two part battle.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
On November the thirteenth, you have a thirteen ship formation
that's going to take on two Japanese battleships and esporting
cruises and destroyers coming.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Down the slots. It's gonna be a night fight.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
The Japanese objective is to bombard the Henderson Field on
Quantic Canal and basically land troops and win the battle.
And it's Atlanta and you know, four other cruises and
uh eight destroyers that toward this effort.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
David.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
During the writing and research of this book, anything surprise you.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I went through, uh, you know, a lot of the diaries,
I uh, personal papers and oral histories. Library Congress Veterans
History Project had some very good recollections. Uh, and I
found some correspondence and a note. It's worth mentioning that
(10:56):
there was a more correspondent on the Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Uh and uh, you know, given that you know this
is herdie.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Should be that should be mentioned that he had comly
go on board uh the Atlanta and recorded what was
going on. And I wanted to share a part of
a letter from because Miller he's young, uh pup with
(11:28):
the United Press Association.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Uh and uh.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
He there's a tradition in a need that when you
cross the equator, there's a crossing the line ceremony, and
it's it can be pretty rough, uh you know, and
he and here's the letter.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
I'll quote two paragraphs from it.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Uh, Dear Boss, Many a time I wondered just why
the hell I ever decided to be correspondent? Ever gave
it much of a thought to the question, as I
did on a certain Sunday of a certain month that
is fained for vacations and hot weather. That Sunday, Boss,
it was the day I hailed before a long whiskered
(12:14):
jet called the Tunish Rex, ruler of the Raging Bin.
It was charged with being a pollywog. Do you know
what a polywog is, boss, Well, if you've ever, of
course equated her on the Mighty A, you'll be certainly
shocked to find out. And then he describes the rituals
(12:35):
that he endured, that other polywogs endured.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
And the thing is is that this is.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
The second time that Atlantic Cross is here equator in
this book. So the first time most of the crew
had not endeavored, and they experienced the ceremony. This time
most of the crew were shellbacks, so they were all.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Ready to you know, the new for this.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
For Bob Miller and a few other recruits had recently
came on board, they had to endure a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Well.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
To sum up his letter, his final paragraph is, as
I rate this propped up and embedded sick bay, swayed
and bay advantages insulated by several pillows. I want to
pay my respects to the surgeon. They said that he
did a magnificent job and pulled them me through. Although
you may have difficulty to recognized me as a result
(13:34):
of the surgery, you should be thankful you still have
a correspondent able to navigate. However, slow and painful, yours,
truly and very painfully, Bob Miller. No, that's great, so
I thought i'd share that with and those are you know,
some of the sources, the letters, the correspondents.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Fortunately, I started this book at a time time.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Uh when I got the diary was in the late nineties,
so it's able to actually uh meet with some of
the junior officers who were.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Still alive at the time. Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
And and and several you know, well one of them
went on to become a reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Another one h uh worked for ABC News. Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
You know, of course, you know, most of the Greatest
generation they passed on, but the captured their experiences. Uh.
In one of the cases discussing the night battle.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Of uh, you know, aquat A Canal.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Uh, this guy was he got very emotional. It's like
it was passing tissue that he went through.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Uh, you know, the carnage. And the problem was is that, well.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
They had radar and they were able to detect the
Japanese and the uh the Admiral Charger, Emerald Dan Callahan
uh decided instead of crossing it, you know, Uh it
was called the Tea, he just kind of drove his
ships into the Japanese formation.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And what was called a melee ensued. Where was everyone
on their own?
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
And in the case the Japanese uh uh search like
spotted Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Uh. And the captain.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Of the Atlanta fell by name Jenkinson counter illuminate and
uh it's uh. Bill Nicholson was the chief gunnery officer.
He said, basically, fire, you know, shoot that guy. You know,
let's let's let it shine. You know, you know, we've
(15:57):
been spotted. And sure enough they're they're able to get
around the fire at the Japanese. Before the Japanese were
able to shoot at the Atlanta, unfortunately, we had this
smokeless powder. That means that you see the gun flash
that night, and so when Atlanta started firing, it was
(16:18):
flash flash flash and everybody started firing. That was now
the Japanese their night tactics. Uh. Basically they used like
smoke powder, so you know you can see that during
the daytime. By that night that hit the flashes. So
it was, you know, a very good Japanese tactic and
it conserved them well early in the war. So Atlanta's
(16:42):
you know, it's by the time the battles over Atlanta
has taken a torpedo.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Uh it blew out the front engine room.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Uh a done, torpedo stuck in the side, and it's
riddled with the shell holds, including eight inche that was
a shot from the USS with San Francisco. So there
was a you know, blue on blue situation bus damaged.
So and I go into great detail and describing the
(17:16):
heroic efforts of the crew to you know, take care
of their shipmates and eventually, you know, keep the ship
a flow till the decision has made that.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Eight eight worth saving.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Right, Yeah. And it sounds like in a way, if
the way you're describing it is there at night, the
Atlanta was basically putting in a spotlight on itself when
it was firing.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's like here I am, yeah, shoot
me right yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
And so it took hits from all over and it
was out of action pretty early in the battle. And now,
as a result of this battle, the Japanese will lose
a battleship to height because it's so damaged that it's
going to be vulnerable to air attack the next morning.
(18:12):
And then two days later in the second battleship to
Kashima is met by the USS Washington battleship and basically
it's an amazing gunfight where Washington opens up and just
blows this battleship mountain. It's uh, so yeah, it's that's
(18:36):
a story that's very told, told very well by the
story and uh, Paul still if it spoken about.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Battleship about by Apple Willislee.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
So but Atlanta, Now, the interesting thing about Atlanta is
a lot of the crew winds off the shore in
what a canal and the Japanese, you know, they decided
to they have this relief column with transport ships and
they just run these ships up on the beach and
so that Japanese troops can scamper sure, and they were
(19:16):
like guns along the shoreline that you can see these
ships in the crude Atlanta Uh uh cruise up these
guns and just fires away at these Japanese transports that
tron on loan deership.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
So uh, the crew of Atlanta stays.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
In the fight even after you know their ship is lost.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Amazing, amazing, Well, David, and we're at a time unfortunately,
but thank you for coming on and to our listeners,
please go and get a comp of the Mighty A
The short Heroic Life of the USS Atlanta. See how
if you want America's first warship commission after Pearl Harbor.
You can find it on Amazon or wherever you purchase
your books at your local bookstore. It's a very interesting
(20:02):
story slash read, and I'm just sorry that we wasn't
able to spend more time with you today to talk
about it because it's really fascinating, but strongly encourage our
listeners to go out and get a copy of it
so they can finish the story themselves.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
I appreciate you having me on dot.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Well, thank you for spending some time with us today.
I've really enjoyed it, and again, I just appreciate you
taking some time to share this with our listeners. All right, well,
thank you for listening to this episode of the Ernie
Pyle World War Two Museum Podcast. Tune in next time
for the latest episode. We'll see you soon.
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