USS Atlanta Project

An international group of GUE divers from the USA, Australia, Sweden, The Netherlands & Russia have successfully executed a project, sponsored by Elena Konstantinou, diving the wreck of the USS Atlanta located near Honiara, one of the Solomon islands in the south pacific.

The USS Atlanta is a light cruiser that was sunk during the pacific battle of Guadalcanal after being severely damaged by both enemy and friendly fire. She lies at a respectful depth of 130 meters.

One of the main project goals of the GUE team was to explore and document the wreck and try to create a image of her state and amount of damage. Because of the great depth and challenging conditions (currents and occasional bad visibility) there is no good footage and data of the USS Atlanta available. Apart from the generic risks of the dives, the handling of all the equipment, long decompression in open ocean, filling and analyzing the enormous amount of cylinders needed everyday, support and safety procedures on this remote location provided extra challenges for the team.

The GUE team of six RB80 rebreather divers consisting of Jarrod Jablonski, Casey McKinlay, Liam Allen, Richard Lundgren, Kirill Egorov & JP Bresser was able to execute six successful days of diving on the Atlanta with bottom times up to 35 minutes. During all dives HD video was recorded by manual operated and scooter mounted HD video cameras. The team used Halcyon scooters to prevent excessive exertion at depth and to be able to cope with tidal currents. Footage recorded includes torpedo tubes, several guns, the bridge area, etc. The wreck was also partially penetrated. During the whole project the GUE team was accompanied by a international film production team and the results will be broadcasted in a full size television documentary.

More info about the USS Atlanta can be found here.