The Atlanta, the "A" of the ABCD series, was a 3340-ton steel cruiser (click photo above to enlarge). If not a sister, she was a close cousin of the Boston. Both were built at Roach's Philadelphia yard, which had been responsible for so many badly-jobbed Navy vessels in the 1870s and '80s, and so was judged an excellent choice to generate the New Navy. Whatever their past sins, the Roaches produced quite acceptable ships for the ABCD group, although Atlanta and Boston had to be completed by the New York Navy Yard following Roach's 1885 bankruptcy. Both were single-screw steel steamers with just a modicum of armor protection. Launched in 1884 and commissioned two years later, Atlanta carried two 8" BL guns (203 mm), six 6" (152 mm), and numerous smaller calibres, boat guns for landing parties, and three TT. She and the Boston were originally brig-rigged, spread 10,900 sf of sail, and saved the taxpayer a bundle on coal during their first years of operation with the ABCD squadron.
Atlanta trained with the ABCD squadron her first years. Later she voyaged to Europe as part of the "Squadron of Evolution" in 1889, cruising the Mediterranean, and later paying a goodwill visit to Brazil before returning to New York in 1890. After varied duties in the next 5 years, she was decommissioned and missed the Spanish-American War. Recommissioning in 1900, she spent five years primarily in Caribbean and South American waters, making another trip to Europe in 1904, returning via Africa and Cape Town. Starting in 1905, she began a period of humbler duties, ending in 1912 when she was stricken from the Navy list and sold to Dutch shipbreakers.
Plan and Specifications
Specifications for the Atlanta:
Dimensions: 288'6" x 43'9" x 19'10". Displacement: 3,240 tons. Armament: (2) 8"/30 Mk 1 BLR, (6) 6"/30 Mk 1 BLR, (2) 6-pdr, (2) 47 mm 3-pdr, (4) 37 mm 1-pdr, and (2) Gatling guns; (3) 14" torpedo tubes. 8" guns replaced by (4) 4.7" QF, i901. Propulsion: (2) coal-fired cylindrical boilers; horizontal compound engine, single screw. Speed: 16.3 kts. Crew: 353.
Metric specs:
Dimensions: 87.93 m x 12.85 m x 6.05 m. Displacement: 3,240 tons. Armament: (2) 203 mm/30 Mk 1 BLR, (6) 152 mm/30 Mk 1 BLR, (2) 6-pdr, (2) 47 mm 3-pdr, (4) 37 mm 1-pdr, and (2) Gatling guns; (3) 14" torpedo tubes. 203 mm guns replaced by (4) 120 mm QF, 1901. Propulsion: (2) coal-fired cylindrical boilers; horizontal compound engine, single screw. Speed: 30.2 km/hr. Crew: 353.
An Atlanta Album
A fine view of Atlanta in her prime, with her crew manning the yards for a celebration, most likely the U.S. Navy Centennial blow-out in 1893. Enlarge
A detail of Atlanta's men drills on the quarterdeck with cutlasses.
Scene inside the midships gunhouse; one of the ship's 6"/30 calibre Mark I guns on original pivot mount. USS Vermont in background places this shot at the New York Navy Yard.
Atlanta's aft 8" mount, with gun trained over the port beam.
Atlanta underway with a following wind, under all plain sail plus steam.
