Thunderbolt

USAMP Major General Wallace F. Randolph was a mine planter laid down by Marietta Manufacturing Company and was launched in June 1942 for US Army. Mine planters was a relic from the The Great War 1914-1918, and were specifically designed and outfitted to install mines at coastal fortifications. She was taken over by US Navy in 1949 and refitted to a Camanche class mine layer, but spent her time inactive and mostly laid up. She was taken out of service in 1960, and sold to Caribbean Enterprises the year after. She served in the oil industry before she was renamed to Thunderbolt and used as a research vessel for studying lightning. She was deliberately scuttled outside Marathon in Florida 6. March 1986 as an artificial reef. The wreck rest today four nautical miles outside Marathon, standing on her keel on a depth of 20 to 35 meter. Also see the wreck of the former mine planter vessel USAMP Lt. Colonel Ellery W.Niles.