I'm removing an old SSB from my boat that I will never need, but before I remove the copper grounding ribbon and the ground wire from the mast (connected to the antenna on the stay) from the ground plate (and eventually remove the ground plate) it occurred to me that this might have some lightning protection value, but I don't know anything about that subject.
Lightning is far too powerful (voltage and current beyond our imagination) to be controlled by a single ground connection. It is likely to find multiple routes to ground, doing either very little or catastrophic damage in the process. CharlieJ is right.
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Never let anything mechanical know that you are in a hurry.
Funny, my electrician, a very smart guy who I trust, wasn't sure about my question and said I should ask boaters from Florida who have to deal with lightning far more than we do on the West Coast.
And the first two responses are some very helpful guys from Florida!