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Photo courtesy of the Florida Keys National
Marine Sancutary.
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One of 16 special ships built during World War II in West Virginia to plant and tend minefields for the U.S. Army’s Coast Artillery Corps, Thunderbolt, then named Randolph, was launched in 1942. Transferred to the Navy in 1949 but never commissioned, the 190-foot ship spent most of its life in the reserve fleet waiting for another assignment. When Florida Power and Light bought her for research on electrical energy in lightning strikes, she was renamed Thunderbolt. Eventually, she was donated to the Florida Keys Artificial Reef Association and placed upright in 120 feet of water 4 miles south of Marathon Key at 24° 39.663’N and 80° 57.784’N. Marked by a submerged mooring buoy attached to the ship’s bow, Thunderbolt is part the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Shipwreck Trail. The ship’s most prominent features are a large, horizontal cable reel on the bow, the central observation deck and engineering space amidships, and the rudder and propellers below the stern.
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