Taffy 3 lacked a purpose-built command ship, so an Atlanta's potential contribution extended beyond extra guns. This counterfactual does not assume that one cruiser would change the battle's outcome. Its six escort carriers, three destroyers, and four destroyer escorts did not include a hull designed to coordinate a small surface formation. An Atlanta could have added staff communications and substantial gunfire behind attacking destroyers and destroyer escorts. In British screening doctrine, the cruiser could also draw attention and suppress enemy guns while smaller ships closed to torpedo range, accepting risk to improve the destroyers' chance of delivering an attack.
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What an Atlanta might have added at Samar
A counterfactual Atlanta at Samar shows the class's unrealized value as a communications flagship and gunfire support ship for destroyer attacks.