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USS Atlanta CL-51 configuration question


pchepurko
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If you do a search of this ship, a photo of it is the first thing that pops. Yes, it did have what civilians would call a "Crows Nest". They are called "Fighting Tops" or "Look Out Platforms" in the Navy.

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That area in the mast would have been manned by look outs and fire control. But as to manning and specific ranks and rates good luck. As anal as the Navy is about manning you are going to have to get very creative and if lucky find a vet who was in one of those billets who has a sharp memory. There is no Easy button on this issue. This type of question comes up now and again and as to night time engagements I do not believe the Navy distinguishes between night and day general quarters is general quarters and during an engagement is pretty much the same 2:00 or 02:00 hrs as to manning specifics good luck sir.

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Sorry about the grim tone of my post, questions come up like this now and again. There should be an easy answer but there is none. If you could find the personal papers of the Weapons Officer who was on this class of ship you would have a gold mine. You would have to search the entire watch quarter station bill if these documents could be found in Govt archives but mind you that this document changed every time the crew changed which could literally be every port visited. There are several restricted manuals specific to weapons dept officers but I do not have access to the numbers right now. I also believe that none of the restricted manuals would be class specific to any ship.If you are determined I would try to find the name of the the Weapons dept head from the Atlanta or any of her sisters and then find out where they died and hope that they saved everything and in fact donated the papers to some institution. This, I think is the easy answer.

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I haven't been there in years but the Atlanta Cyclorama had the Navy Dept. scale model of USS Atlanta on display. The detail on those models is fantastic.

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post-6322-0-59484700-1422372106.jpg

 

pchepurko, Here is a photo of the San Juan, a sister ship to the Atlanta, showing the crows nest. This, along with all battle stations topside would be maned during a night engagement. There are stories from WW2 from men who manned AA guns firing them at enemy ships as they passed each other during night actions around Guadalcanal. Crows nest, AA guns, search lights platforms, gun directors, torpedo launches, depth charge racks, and sky lookouts, all exposed positions on the Atlanta class would be manned while at battle stations.

I happen to have a lost of information about the USS Juneau (not the watch stations for enlisted men, but I do have it for the officers), so if you have any questions about this class of ships please message me, I would be glad to help.

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post-6322-0-94064700-1422479768.jpg

Here is another photo of the San Juan looking aft while sailors are at their battle stations. This will give you an idea of the number of sailors topside during a battle.

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As far as manning the fighting top, there would be one man (not room for more). He would be a Seamn First or Second Class, which was standard for look outs. He would be equipped with a set of sound powered phones and binoculars. He was a look out

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