Major General Wallace F. Randolph (ship)

Thunderbolt (1961 )

The USAMP Major General Wallace F. Randolph ( Randolph also MG ) was a minelayer of the United States Army. It was delivered in 1942 by the Marietta Manufacturing Company (West Virginia ) to the U.S. military. After its decommissioning followed civilian operations until the ship was sunk in March 1986 as an artificial reef off Florida.

Military History

The USAMP (United States Army Mine Planter) MG Randolph ran on June 2, 1942 in Point Pleasant (West Virginia) from the stack, where she was one of 16 ships, which were supplied by the Marietta Manufacturing Company in the U.S. Army.

Their task was to lay defensive minefields for the Army Coastal Artillery Corps off the east coast.

After the United States Navy had assumed the role of Minenlegung 1949 went 1951 the MG Randolph in their possession on. Renamed USS Nausett (ACM -15) was the ship until 1960 in Green Cove Springs (Florida ) in reserve, without being however ever put back into service.

On 1 July 1960, the Nausett was finally released from the Navy, exploited and sold to "Caribbean Enterprises".

Subsequent use

Later it was used by the company Florida Power & Light as a test platform in the context of research on lightning strikes. So she came to her last name: Thunderbolt (lightning ).

Finally, the ship was sunk on 6 March 1986 as part of the " Florida Keys Artificial Reef Association Project" about four miles south of Marathon in the Florida Keys. It is today as an attraction for divers relatively intact and upright on a sandy bottom in around 40 meters depth.