The waters off Marathon are home to the queen of the Marathon wreck fleet, Thunderbolt, a 189-foot cable layer that served as a research vessel to explore the electrical energy of lightning strikes.
The local dive community acquired Thunderbolt, originally named Major General Wallace F. Randolph, and sank it intentionally as a dive attraction in March 1986. It lies in approximately 120 feet of water 6.5 miles south of Duck Key Channel in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
The vessel was launched June 2, 1942, as one of 16 sister ships built as mine planters to guard coastal minefields for the U.S. Army. The Randolph’s duties were transferred to the Navy, yet it was never commissioned and remained idle in a Naval Reserve fleet.
Thunderbolt off Marathon.
In later years, Florida Power and Light Co. used the renamed Thunderbolt as a cable layer for researching electrical energy and lightning strikes, and eventually donated the vessel to the Florida Keys Artificial Reef Association.
An easily navigable and appealing wreck, the “T-bolt” was stripped of all but a few pieces of equipment before being sunk. Its most prominent features are a cable-handling reel centered on the forecastle at approximately 80 feet and an observation deck at 75 feet. Aft, at 120 feet, the rudder and propellers complement the stern section that was cut away to expose the engine room and the interior of the hull.
Thunderbolt’s superstructure is coated with colorful sponges, corals and hydroids, providing refuge and sustenance to jacks, cobia, tarpon and deep-water pelagic creatures.
Uniquely, divers can see this upright wreck in its entirety during one dive, providing advanced divers as well as spear fishermen an interesting deep site. Large angelfish patrol its decks and barracuda stand watch in the wheelhouse, an easy and intriguing swim-through.
Goliath grouper — one reportedly near 800 pounds — hang around the engine room. Amberjack, hogfish, black grouper and the occasional reef shark reside near the rudder and propellers.
Thunderbolt is part of the Florida Keys Wreck Trek program, which rewards advanced- and wreck-certified divers who complete a series of shipwreck dives with a personalized print of Florida Keys shipwrecks.
The Florida Keys News Bureau is a division of NewmanPR, the tourism public relation agency for the Florida Keys tourism council. For more Keys travel information, go to fla.keys.com.
