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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Nausett (MMA 15)
ex-ACM-15
ex-USAMP Major General Wallace F. Randolph

Camanche Class Auxiliary Minelayer: Laid down in 1942 as USAMP Major General Wallace F. Randolph for the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps, Mine Planter Service at the Marietta Manufacturing Co., Point Pleasant, WV; Transferred to the Navy in March 1951, designated as an Auxiliary Minelayer, ACM-15 and berthed at Charleston, SC with the Atlantic Reserve Fleet; Moved to Green Cove Springs, FL; Reclassified MMA-15, 7 February 1955; Named Nausett 1 May 1955; Struck from the Navy Register, 1 July 1960. Stripped and sold, 17 May 1961 to Caribbean Enterprises, Inc. of Miami, FL: Renamed Sea Searcher and Thunderbolt. The research vessel Thunderbolt got her final name by serving as a stationary focal point for lightning strikes. Researchers from Florida Power and Light (FP&L) used two jet engines to blast ionized gas into the upper atmosphere, attracting large numbers of strikes on the target vessel. Following the lightning research (in the early 1980s), she was to begin a new career as an underwater surveyor vessel. Unfortunately for the Thunderbolt, she sank at the dock in Miami Harbor. Members of the Middle Keys diving community bought her in 1986 and paid to have her cleaned and prepped as an artificial reef. She was scuttled 3 March 1986 in 120' of water off Marathon, FL at 24° 39.663' N., 80° 57.784' W. Nausett was never commissioned in the U. S. Navy.

Specifications: Displacement 910 t.; Length 189'; Beam 37'; Draft 12'; Speed 12 kts; Complement 135; Armament none.

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For Full Size Image		 Size Image Description Source
ACM-15
Nausett 60k c. 1948 Robert Hurst
R/V Thunderbolt
Nausett 7k Thunderbolt prior to being sunk as an artificial reef .
View the Nausett (ACM 15)
DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Naval Minewarfare Association
Association of Minemen
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