Three Inspiration rebreather divers became the first British dive team to visit SS Atlanta, lying in 115m in Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on Monday 18 October.

The expedition was led by Dave Cooper, a UK-based TDI Inspiration instructor, who sent this report to Divernet.

"This dive was as a direct result of the help furnished by support divers Gerard Punch, Helen Wehner, Paul Curme and Stuart Hearn. The wreck itself is awesome and shows major signs of extensive combat damage. It was a privilege to dive her and remember her crew and the gallant action they fought".

The story of SS Atalanta

On the night of 12-13 November 1942, USS Atlanta was part of a cruiser-destroyer force ordered to interdict a Japanese bombardment of the U.S.-held airfield on Guadalcanal. During the ensuing Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, one of World War II's most brutally chaotic surface actions, the enemy was driven off, but at great cost.

Hit by one Japanese torpedo and riddled by gunfire, both enemy and "friendly", USS Atlanta suffered heavy casualties among her crew and was almost completely disabled. Though her men worked throughout the day on 13 November to save their ship, by late afternoon she was clearly sinking. Accordingly, she was sunk on her Captain's orders after all her men had been taken off.


The wreck was initially found found and dived in 1996 by a US diving expedition, led by Terrence Tysall, director of the Cambrian Foundation


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