US Navy Atlanta-class Light Cruisers 1940-49

The wartime reality was different. In every surface action they fought, they found themselves pitted against bigger cruisers (or even battleships) instead of the destroyers they were designed to defeat. In this book, naval historian Mark Lardas explains that despite their flaws, they proved one of the most useful warships in the US Navy: with a main battery of sixteen 5in guns, they proved to be superb antiaircraft cruisers. From the battle of Midway onwards, they protected the Navy's most valuable ships – its aircraft carriers – so effectively that later Atlantas were built to a modified design as specialist antiaircraft ships. The Navy even ordered a follow-on class postwar and considered building a “super-Atlanta,” armed only with heavy antiaircraft guns. Packed with illustrations, this book examines the history, development, and modifications of these unusual warships, and their impact on the Pacific War.