Witness to Neptune's Inferno: The Pacific War Diary of Lieutenant Commander Lloyd M. Mustin, USS Atlanta (CL 51)

This book presents Lieutenant Commander Lloyd M. Mustin's war diary and personal recollections from his service aboard the USS Atlanta (CL 51) during the early Pacific War. Mustin's diary, kept in a standard canvas-covered logbook despite Navy regulations against such records, offers a rare day-to-day account from a mid-grade officer's perspective. The narrative begins with the USS Atlanta's commissioning at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Christmas Eve 1941, the first ship commissioned following America's entry into World War II. It follows the ship's workups and deployment to the Pacific in time for the Battle of Midway, then traces the vessel's movements to the Southwest Pacific. Mustin documents the ship's first engagement with enemy aircraft at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in late August 1942, with his final diary entry covering the Battle of Santa Cruz in late October 1942. The account is completed by material drawn from Mustin's oral history, covering the Battle of Guadalcanal and subsequent events. The diary is particularly significant because its discovery by the Japanese could have revealed that their code had been broken before Midway, making Mustin's preserved record an exceptionally valuable historical document of the Pacific War during 1942.