Diving Deep on the USS Atlanta
Diving deeper than 100m might be considered a little senseless or even reckless. For the USS Atlanta and we decided it’s only senseless if it’s wreck-less.
I was introduced to the Solomon Islands by Paul Weakley who had invited us over to dive the shore-diveable wrecks around Guadalcanal. It was a beautiful and sometimes frightening new underwater world compared with Wellington’s south coast, filled with colourful corals, sharks, WWII wrecks and the occasional whale and manta.
Something great about these wrecks by the shore was being able to get very deep at one end of the wreck and do your deco in corals and schools of fish at the other. I was hooked and returned every year for seven years, collecting more and more gear and experience.
I first heard about the USS Atlanta in our third year of diving there. We were off-gassing in the Lime Lounge, feeling a little smug at having cheated death shore-diving the Azumasan Maru to 84m. By then we were carrying extra bottles and had a little technical diving knowledge under our belts. Paul said, “You think that was deep? See those two guys in the corner? They’ve dived the Atlanta. It’s in 120m!”
The two guys were both called Adam and had matching satchels. This was the first I’d heard of the Atlanta, a deep wreck that few people had dived…
The challenge was laid. Over the next four years all my training, equipment choices and practice were directed at this one dive.
Paul Trainor and John McMullan became regular dive buddies as we were all interested in deep wreck diving. Our first tropical equipment test was on the HMS Repulse and the Prince of Wales in the South China Sea, followed by two trips to the Solomon Islands on wrecks like the HMNZS Moa, USS Aaron Ward, Azumasan Maru, Sasako Maru and Kinugawa Maru.
We did our final, formal 100m training in Bali. While William Trubridge might conceivably briefly touch the Atlanta, we would be able to pause to look around, thanks to our training and 69kg of check-in luggage each!
Neil Yates from Tulagi Dive in the Solomon Islands was the go-to operator for a dive like the Atlanta. Early in 2016 we asked him to consult his moon and tide charts to tell us the best time to visit. We arrived a week early to check our gear and acclimatise on the now familiar wrecks around Iron Bottom Sound. We had also been diving regularly with Aaron Bolton, Chris Money and Dean Danford who graciously agreed to be our support divers.
Despite four years of planning, the day before our first attempt we were still tweaking our dive plan. Worst case, someone’s scooter and rebreather would fail at the furthest point from the line. If the others didn’t notice immediately it might mean a free ascent with the need to be completely self-sufficient. Every extra minute on the bottom meant another 20 minutes deco and in the event of a CO2 hit, we’d definitely need to share our bailout. In the end we stuck to our conservative plan. If we needed more time we’d just have to come back again.
"See those two guys in the corner? They’ve dived the Atlanta. It’s in 120!
On the day it was pretty much routine but I could feel myself being more deliberate. The diluent was a nice lean 6/86 and Neil was loading a floating deco platform. As we headed out the wind came up unexpectedly and once at the site it was clear this wasn’t the day to dive the Atlanta. To stay prepared we left our gear set up, grabbed some single tanks and BCDs from the shop and jumped instead on the truck to dive the shallow I-1 submarine from the shore.
The day of our second attempt was perfect. Neil hooked the wreck easily and set up the deco station, the water was blue and flat with little current. We dropped into the water and checked each other at 6m. There was no rush while we stayed shallow though a good bottom time was dependent on getting there quickly, or else we’d rack up all our deco en route. My ears were the most likely thing to hold us back so I was to lead our scooter charge to the bottom.
"Discarded battle-damaged aeroplane parts and other twisted wreckage lies beside sake bottles
It turned out to be the drag of Paul’s big video lights that proved our limiting factor, but we got there as planned in just three minutes. We were glad to have those video lights too. The visibility was great, clear, but dark.
So, what was it like? Well, it was a wreck at the bottom of the sea. A ship lying to port: guns, torpedoes and twisted metal, a heap of steel that will one day vanish.
Our gear worked well. We stayed together. We saw and touched the wreck. Our support divers met us and took the gear we no longer needed. We dived the plan. Mission success! Goal achieved.
But on the two hour ascent I recalled the pictures and model of the USS Atlanta we’d studied and knew we had only seen some of the wreck… Hey guys! What are your plans next year?
