Major General Wallace F. Randolph (ship)
USAMP MP-7 Major General Wallace F. Randolph, Army M 1 Mine Planter Hull No. 480.
Records (#742), Special Collections Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | Major General Wallace F. Randolph |
| Namesake | Major General Wallace F. Randolph |
| Owner | Florida Keys Artificial Reef Association |
| Builder | Marietta Manufacturing Company |
| Launched | 2 June 1942 |
| Commissioned | 1942 |
| Decommissioned | 1951 |
| In service | 1942 |
| Out of service | 1951 |
| Renamed | Nausett |
| Stricken | 1 July 1960 |
| Fate | Intentionally sunk 6 March 1986 as an Artificial reef |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Mine Planter |
| Displacement | 910 long tons (920 t) |
| Length | 189 ft (58 m) |
| Beam | 37 ft (11 m) |
| Draft | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h) |
| Complement | 135 |
USAMP Major General Wallace F. Randolph, sometimes also known as MG Wallace F. Randolph, was a 188.2-foot (57.4 m) mine planter built by the Marietta Manufacturing Company, and delivered to the United States Army Mine Planter Service in 1942. The ship was transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1951, placed directly into the Atlantic Reserve Fleet without being commissioned classed as the auxiliary minelayer ACM-15, then reclassified minelayer, auxiliary (MMA) and named MMA-15, and finally given the name Nausett without any active naval service. After being stricken from the Naval Vessel Register, the ship was transferred to different owners, and eventually was scuttled off the coast of Florida as an artificial reef and fish aggregating device. The site is currently known as the Thunderbolt Wreck, and is considered to be an excellent and challenging dive site for advanced divers.