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Cable layer

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 74.88.107.15 (talk) at 02:43, 2 December 2023 (Edits and researched CS Monarch and CS Alert were different vessels. Added the CS Cable Innovator and CS Burnside as shown and mentioned but not in the list with details.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Modern cable layer CS Cable Innovator docked in Port Angeles, Washington
CS Dependable at Astoria, Oregon, a modern stern sheave design
CS Hooper, the world's first purpose-built cable-laying ship, built by C. Mitchell & Co of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1873, renamed CS Silvertown in 1881

A cable layer or cable ship is a deep-sea vessel designed and used to lay underwater cables for telecommunications, for electric power transmission, military, or other purposes. Cable ships are distinguished by large cable sheaves[1] for guiding cable over bow or stern or both. Bow sheaves,[2] some very large, were characteristic of all cable ships in the past, but newer ships are tending toward having stern sheaves only, as seen in the photo of CS Cable Innovator at the Port of Astoria on this page. The names of cable ships are often preceded by "C.S." as in CS Long Lines.[3]

The first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid by cable layers in 1857–58. It briefly enabled telecommunication between Europe and North America before misuse resulted in failure of the line. In 1866 the SS Great Eastern successfully laid two transatlantic cables, securing future communication between the continents.

Modern cable ships

Cable ships have unique requirements related to having long idle periods in port between cable laying or repairs, operation at low speeds or stopped at sea during cable operations, long periods running astern (less frequent as stern layers are now common), high maneuverability, and a fair speed to reach operation areas.[4]

Modern cable ships differ greatly from their predecessors. There are two main types of cable ships: cable repair ships and cable-laying ships. Cable repair ships, like the Japanese Tsugaru Maru, tend to be smaller and more maneuverable; they are capable of laying cable, but their primary job is fixing or repairing broken sections of cable. A cable-laying ship, like Long Lines, is designed to lay new cables. Such ships are bigger than repair ships and less maneuverable; their cable storage drums are also larger and are set in parallel so one drum can feed into another, allowing them to lay cable much faster. These ships are also generally equipped with a linear cable engine (LCE) that helps them lay cable quickly. By locating the manufacturing plant near a harbor, cable can be loaded into the ship's hold as it is being manufactured.[5]

The newest design of cable layers, though, is a combination of cable-laying and repair ships. An example is USNS Zeus (T-ARC-7) the only U.S. naval cable layer-repair ship. Zeus uses two diesel-electric engines that produce 5,000 horsepower (3,700 kW) each and can carry her up to 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). She can lay about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of telecommunications cable to a depth of 9,000 feet (2,700 m). The purpose of Zeus was to be a cable ship that could do anything required of it, so the ship was built to be able to lay and retrieve cable from either the bow or the stern with ease. This design was similar to that of the first cable ship, Great Eastern. Zeus was built to be as maneuverable as possible so that it could fulfill both roles: as a cable layer or a cable repair ship.[6]

Equipment

To ensure that cable is laid and retrieved properly, specially designed equipment must be used. Different equipment is used on cable-laying ships depending on what their job requires. In order to retrieve damaged or mislaid cable, a grapple system is used to gather cable from the ocean floor. There are several types of grapples, each with certain advantages or disadvantages. These grapples are attached to the vessel via a grapple rope, originally a mix of steel and manila lines, but now made from synthetic materials. This ensures that the line is strong, yet can flex and strain under the weight of the grapple. The line is pulled up by reversing the Linear Cable Engine used to lay the cable.[7]

CS Cable Innovator at anchor in Astoria, Oregon, showing a modern design without bow sheaves.

The most common laying engine in use is the Linear Cable Engine (LCE). The LCE is used to feed the cable down to the ocean floor, but this device can also be reversed and used to bring back up cable needing repair. These engines can feed 800 feet (240 m) of cable a minute. Ships are limited to a speed of eight knots (15 km/h) while laying cable to ensure the cable lies on the sea floor properly and to compensate for any small adjustments in course that might affect the cables' position, which must be carefully mapped so that they can be found again if they need to be repaired. Linear Cable Engines are also equipped with a brake system that allows the flow of cable to be controlled or stopped if a problem arises. A common system used is a fleeting drum, a mechanical drum fitted with eoduldes (raised surfaces on the drum face) that help slow and guide the cable into the LCE.[7] Cable ships also use “plows” that are suspended under the vessel. These plows use jets of high-pressure water to bury cable three feet (0.91 m) under the sea floor, which prevents fishing vessels from snagging cables as thrall their nets.[8]

HMTS Monarch[9] (renamed CS Sentinel 13 October 1970)[1] completed the first transatlantic telephone cable, TAT-1, in 1956[10] from Scotland to Nova Scotia for Britain's General Post Office (GPO).

Repeaters

When coaxial cables were introduced as submarine cables, a new issue with cable-laying was encountered. These cables had periodic repeaters inline with the cable and powered through it. Repeaters overcame significant transmission problems on submarine cables. The difficulty with laying repeaters is that there is a bulge where they are spliced in to the cable and this causes problems passing through the sheave. British ships, such as HMTS Monarch and HMTS Alert solved the problem by providing a trough for the repeater to bypass the sheave. A rope connected in parallel to the repeater went through the sheave which pulled the cable back in to the sheave after the repeater had passed. It was normally necessary for the ship to slow down while the repeater was being laid.[11] American ships, for a time, tried using flexible repeaters which passed through the sheave. However, by the 1960s they were also using rigid repeaters similar to the British system.[12]

Another issue with coaxial repeaters is that they are much heavier than the cable. To ensure that they sink at the same rate as the cable (which can take some time to reach the bottom) and keep the cable straight, the repeaters are fitted with parachutes.[12][11]: 212 

List of cable ships

Goliath
Cable ship Burnside in Ketchikan, Alaska, June 1911
  • Goliath, the first ship to lay an ocean cable in 1850. Done for the Submarine Telegraph Company across the English Channel.
  • CS Monarch (1830-1883), first ship to be permanently fitted out as a cable ship
  • SS Great Eastern, worked as a cable ship from 1865 to 1870
  • CS Hooper, launched 29 March 1873 for Hooper's Telegraph Works, first cable ship designed to lay trans Atlantic cable, renamed CS Silvertown in 1881[13][14]
  • CS H. C. Oersted, named for Hans Christian Ørsted built for The Great Northern Telegraph Company 1872, was the first ship specifically designed for cable repair.[15]
  • CS Seine, maiden voyage 1873[16][17]
  • CS Faraday, built in 1874 for Siemens Brothers
  • CS Gomos, the first cable ship ever to be sunk; she was rammed by another ship in the 1870s while laying a cable for the Brazilian Submarine Telegraph Company.[18][19][20]: 137 
  • CS La Plata, chartered by Siemens Brothers Ltd. from W.T. Henley’s Telegraph Works Co. to lay cable between Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Chuy, Uruguay to complete work after CS Gomos sunk. Foundered 29 November 1874 in the Bay of Biscay with loss of 58 crew and the cable.[19][21]
  • CS Burnside (1882-1924) British/Spanish/American ship. Built for W. Lund of London and named Yeoman. Ship was planned for an Australian cable laying route and initially named Yeoman. Sold to Spain in 1891, as Rita, and captured by US, renaming as Burnside. Completed work in laying cable in the Philippines after CS Hooker sunk. In 1903, laid the US-Alaska cable from Sitka to Juneau. Scrapped in 1924.[22]
  • CS Monarch 2 (1883-1915) British ship. Second cable ship with the name. Sunk in 1915.
  • CS Mackay-Bennett, in service from 1884 until 1922, and best known for recovering the bodies of the victims of the RMS Titanic disaster in 1912
  • CS Alert (1890-1915), cut important German cables in World War I
  • CS Cambria (1905), sank in Montevideo harbour, Uruguay, in 1945
  • HMTS Monarch 3 (1916-1945) British ship. Third cable ship with the name. Sunk in 1945. Was to be the second CS Alert.
  • HMTS Alert 2 (1918-1945) Second cable ship with the name. Sunk in 1945.
  • CS Faraday (1923)
  • CS Telconia, in service from 1910 until 1934
  • HMTS Alert 3 (1945-1960) Third cable ship with the name. Scrapped in 1960.
  • HMTS Monarch 4/Sentinal 2 (1945-1977) British ship. Chartered by AT&T Corp. for operations until CS Long Lines was commissioned for company use. The TAT-1, submarine transatlantic telephone cable system was laid in the 1950s between Clarenville, Newfoundland and Oban, Scotland. This vessel was the successor of the CS Monarch sunk in 1945. Fourth cable ship with the name. Operated in 1956 on TAT-2. Renamed in 1970 as the second CS Sentinal when sold to Cable & Wireless plc.
  • CS Lidiv (Decommissioned 1955) Built for AT&T Corp. for New York Telephone Company use. Decommissioned in 1955 and the CS Cable Queen was the replacement.[23]
  • CS Cable Queen (Built 1951-1952) Built for AT&T Corp. for the Bell System usage by New York Telephone Company. A 65 foot small-scale underwater telephone cable-laying vessel. Decommissioned after 1989 with over 100,000 miles of cable laying.[24]
  • CS Salernum/Charles L. Brown (Built 1954) Built in Italy and named CS Salernum. Dimensions were length as 339.6 ft, breadth as 41.0 ft, depth as 18.5 ft, and gross tonnage at 2789. Purchased by AT&T Corp. through its' subsidiary, Transoceanic Cableship Co., in 1984. Sold by AT&T in 1997 to Tyco International in the AT&T Submarine Systems fleet purchases. The wreck became an article reef in the Dutch Caribbean island, Sint Eustatius.[25]
AT&T Long Lines cable ship working on the cable linking mainland Vero Beach, Florida to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Typical maps, US to Venezuela cable route.
  • CS Long Lines (Built 1961-1963) Built for AT&T Corp. for the 1961 launching, but cable laying assignments began in 1963. The $19 million vessel was 511 feet length and 11,300-tons. Performed the laying of the first trans-Pacific telephone cable, known as TRANSPAC-1 (TPC-1) in 1964. and the first trans-Pacific fiber cable, known as TPC 3.[26] Sold in 1997 to Tyco International.[27] Scrapped in 2003.[28]
  • HMTS Alert 4 (1961) In 1988, was owned by British Telecom when it worked a joint operation with CS Long Lines and CS Vercors on the first transatlantic fiber optic cable, TAT-8. The three cable laying points originated from three telephone companies owned vessels in three countries. Britian was Widemouth Bay, England.[29]
  • CS KDD Maru (1967) Owned by Kokusai Denshin Denwa Company Participated in the joint cable laying of TPC-3 with CS Long Lines.[30]
  • HMTS Monarch 5 (1973-2003) British ship. Fifth cable ship with the name.
  • CS Vercors/Chamarel (1974) In 1988, was owned by France Telecom when it worked a joint operation with CS Alert and CS Long Lines on the first transatlantic fiber optic cable, TAT-8. The three cable laying points originated from three countries and three different telephone company vessels. France was Penmarch, France. Later operated by Orange. The United States point was Tuckerton, New Jersey. The communications transmission capacity reached in 18 months beyond expectations that other lines would be needed within a decade.[31]
  • CS Raymond Croze (1982) Used by Orange UK, the vessel was 40 years old in 2022 when a replacement was being planned by Orange Marine, the subsidiary of Orange. New ship launching was planned for 2023 after new vessel would be completed.[32]
  • CS Link (Built 1990s) Owned by Transoceanic Cable Ship Co., a subsidiary of the United States based telephone company, AT&T Corp..[33]
  • CS Global Sentinel (Built 1992) Maiden voyage from shipyard to Honolulu was February 1992. The 479-foot vessel equipped with bow thrusters, began cable laying operations in early 1992. Owned by Transoceanic Cable Ship Co., a subsidiary of the United States telephone company, AT&T Corp..[34]
  • CS Global Mariner (Built 1992) Built in Singapore. The 479-foot vessel was equipped with bow thrusters and had storage space for up to 4100 nautical miles of cable. Seafaring was done on December 1992 by Seafarers International Union crew. A SIU publication, Seafarers Log, indicated in January 1993 the vessel was the fifth cable ship of the AT&T Corp. fleet. It was a sister ship and identical to CS Global Sentinel. Owned by Transoceanic Cable Ship Co., the subsidiary of the United States AT&T telephone company.[35]
  • CS Cable Innovator (Built 1995) This vessel was built in Kvaerner Masa Shipyard, Turku, Finland for the United Kingdom. The ship was part of Cable & Wireless plc (Marine) Ltd. The C&W fleet was transferred to Global Marine. The length is 476 feet (145 meters) and has a gross tonnage of 14,277. The ship can carry 8000 tons of cable.[36]
  • CS Fu Tai (Built 2007) Built in Spain for offshore construction purposes. Purchased by Chinese S.B.Submarine Systems (SBSS) in 2021 for a retrofit conversion as a cable ship. Launched in 2022 for those cable ship purposes.[37]
  • CS Pierre de Fermat (2014) Used by Orange UK, the vessel was the first new ship built by Orange Marine, since the CS Raymond Croze was launched in 1983 for cable laying.[38]
  • CS MV Lida (Still operating in 2022) South Africa’s Mertech Marine owns this cable retrieval ship as of 2022 and planned a retirement of the vessel with a unforeseen replacement date.[39]

Royal Navy

US Navy

USNS Zeus, with both bow and stern sheaves

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - HMTS Monarch (4)". atlantic-cable.com. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  2. ^ "NavSource Photo, USS Neptune (ARC 2) bow sheaves". navsource.org. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  3. ^ "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - Leo Parrish and CS Long Lines". atlantic-cable.com. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  4. ^ Gill, A. J. (January 1947). "H.M.T.S. Monarch" (PDF). The Post Office Electrical Engineers' Journal. 39 (January 1947). London: The Institution of Post Office Electrical Engineers: 129–138. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  5. ^ How the Internet Travels Across Oceans, by Adam Satariano, graphics By Karl Russell, Troy Griggs and Blacki Migliozzi, photographs by Chang W. Lee, New York Times, March 10, 2019
  6. ^ Sanderlin, T., Stuart, W., & Jamieson, D.R., (1979). Cable Laying Ship. Presented at the April 18, 1979, meeting of Chesapeake Section of The Society of Naval Architects and marine Engineers.
  7. ^ a b Thomas N. Sanderlin, Stuart M. Williams & Robert D. Jamison.(1979).Cable Laying Ship.Presented at the April 18, 1979, meeting of Chesapeake Section of The Society of Naval Architects and marine Engineers.
  8. ^ Frank, D. Messia; Jon, B. Machin; Jeffery, A.Hill. (2000). The Economic Advantages of Jet-Assisted Plowing.Source: Oceans Conference Record (IEEE), v 1, p 649-656, 2001; ISSN 0197-7385; DOI: 10.1109/OCEANS.2001.968800; Conference: Oceans 2001 MTS/IEEE - An Ocean Odyssey, November 5, 2001 - November 8, 2001; Sponsor: Marine Technology Society; IEEE; OES; Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
  9. ^ "hmts-alert.org.uk - Registered at Namecheap.com". www.hmts-alert.org.uk. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  10. ^ "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - Cable Signalling Speed". atlantic-cable.com. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  11. ^ a b K. R. Haigh, Cableships and Submarine Cables, pp. 211–214, Adlard Coles, 1968 OCLC 497380538.
  12. ^ a b "Two new British cable ships completed", New Scientist, No. 240, p. 716, 22 June 1961.
  13. ^ Glover, Bill (22 December 2019). "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - CS Hooper/Silvertown". Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  14. ^ "Launch of a Telegraph Steamer". The London and China Telegraph. 15 (501). Lonfon: 229. April 7, 1873. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  15. ^ Glover, Bill (4 March 2017). "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - CS H. C. Oersted". Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  16. ^ Glover, Bill. "The Evolution of Cable & Wireless, Part 3". Atlantic-cable.com. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  17. ^ "Ship Seine". The Illustrated London News. 1 November 1873. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2019. The ship Seine laying the land end of the Brazilian submarine telegraph cable at Madeira, illustration from the magazine The Illustrated London News, volume LXIII, November 1, 1873.
  18. ^ Glover, Bill. "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - CS Gomos". Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  19. ^ a b "Telegraphic Progress in 1874". Engineering. 19 (January 1875). London: 12–13. 1874.
  20. ^ Huurdeman, Anton A., The Worldwide History of Telecommunications, Wiley, 2003 ISBN 0471205052.
  21. ^ Glover, Bill. "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - CS La Plata". Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  22. ^ Glover, Bill. "CS Burnside". altantic-cable.com. Atlantic cable. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  23. ^ Glover, Bill. "CS Cable Queen". atlantic-cable.com. History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  24. ^ Glover, Bill. "CS Cable Queen". atlantic-cable.com. History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  25. ^ Mauric, Damien. "Secret Scuba Spot: Charlie Brown Wreck in Statia". www.scubadiving.com. Padi. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  26. ^ Swinhoe, Dan. "A brief history of cable ships". www.datacenterdynamics.com. datacenterdynamics. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  27. ^ "C.S. LONG LINES - IMO 5421235". www.shipspotting.com. Ship Spotting. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  28. ^ Swinhoe, Dan. "A brief history of cable ships". www.datacenterdynamics.com. datacenterdynamics. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  29. ^ Swinhoe, Dan. "A brief history of cable ships". www.datacenterdynamics.com. datacenterdynamics. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  30. ^ Swinhoe, Dan. "A brief history of cable ships". www.datacenterdynamics.com. datacenterdynamics. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  31. ^ Swinhoe, Dan. "A brief history of cable ships". www.datacenterdynamics.com. datacenterdynamics. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  32. ^ Swinhoe, Dan. "A brief history of cable ships". www.datacenterdynamics.com. datacenterdynamics. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  33. ^ "Seafarers Bring Newest AT&T Cable Ship to States" (PDF). Seafarers Log. 55 (1): 3. January 1993.
  34. ^ "Seafarers Sail Through a Year Of Military Operations, Legislation, New Vessels and Elections" (PDF). Seafarers Log. 55 (1): 14. January 1993.
  35. ^ "Fifth AT&T Ship Joins Cable Fleet" (PDF). Seafarers Log. 55 (1): 3. January 1993.
  36. ^ Glover, Bill. "CS Cable Innovator". atlantic-cable.com. Atlantic Cable. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  37. ^ Swinhoe, Dan. "A brief history of cable ships". www.datacenterdynamics.com. datacenterdynamics. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  38. ^ Swinhoe, Dan. "A brief history of cable ships". www.datacenterdynamics.com. datacenterdynamics. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  39. ^ Swinhoe, Dan. "A brief history of cable ships". www.datacenterdynamics.com. datacenterdynamics. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  40. ^ "Attack Cargo Ship AKA-49 Vanadis". www.navsource.org. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
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