Cable layer

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

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

CS Dependable at Astoria, Oregon, a modern stern sheave design.

A cable layer or cable ship is a deep-sea vessel designed and used to lay underwater cables for telecommunications, electric power transmission, 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 from 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

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 the 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 liner cable engine (LCE) that helps them lay cable quickly.

The newest design of cable layers, though, is a combination of cable-laying and repair ships. An example is the USNS Zeus, the only U.S. naval cable layer/repair ship. The Zeus uses two diesel electric engines that produce 5000 horsepower each and can carry her up to 15 knots (about 25 miles per hour), and she can lay about 1000 miles of telecommunications cable to a depth of 9000 feet. The purpose of the 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, the Great Eastern. The 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.^[4]

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 Liner Cable Engine used to lay the cable.^[5]

The most common laying engine in use is the Liner 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 of cable a minute. However ships are limited to a speed of 8 knots 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. Liner 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.^[5] Cable ships also use “plows” that are suspended under the vessel. These plows use jets of high pressure water to bury cable 3 feet under the sea floor, which prevents fishing vessels from snagging cables as thrall their nets.^[6]

HMTS^[7] Monarch (renamed CS Sentinel 13 October 1970)^[1] completed the first transatlantic telephone cable, TAT-1 in 1956^[8] from Scotland to Nova Scotia for Britain's General Post Office (GPO).

See also

• List of international submarine communications cables
• Optical fibre
• Submarine communications cable
• Submarine power cable

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cable-laying ships.

• International Cable Protection Committee - Cableships of the World
• Photos of commercial cable layers
• History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications
• "Cable Laying Ship Is Floating Wonderland", July 1932, Popular Mechanics

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