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37-775: CS Telconia was a British cable ship used in the early 20th century to lay and repair submarine communications cables . She was built in 1909 by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson for the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company (a subsidiary of the Atlantic Telegraph Company ) and remained in service until late 1934. Telconia is often incorrectly credited with playing a role in cutting German cables in August 1914. In her book The Zimmermann Telegram , American historian Barbara Tuchman incorrectly asserted this based on an interview with

74-505: A 30 in (76.2 cm) stroke develop 4,500 horsepower for a top speed of 14.5 kn (16.7 mph; 26.9 km/h). Electricity for both cable machinery and general ship's electrical power was provided by two steam turbines, with their own condensers and pumps making them independent of the main engine steam system, each driving through gearing two 100 kilowatt generator sets. The solution to electrical cable machinery involved combined use of constant voltage at 220 volts, used for both

111-467: 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. 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

148-433: A cable repair ship. 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

185-415: A constant current power supply to meet the requirements of cable laying. The cable machinery forward was for laying cable in shallower water or picking up and retrieving cable in all depths. The aft machinery would be used for long deep water cable runs. The motors were fitted to the cable drum with reduction gears to give a slow speed at 20 ton load of 0.75 nmi (0.86 mi; 1.39 km) per hour to

222-407: 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

259-445: A draft, fully loaded, of 27 ft 10 in (8.5 m). Four 41 ft (12.5 m) diameter cable tanks of 170,000 cubic feet (4,813.9 m ) total volume were capable of holding 125,000 cubic feet (3,539.6 m ) of coiled cable. The tanks held 2,500 nmi (2,900 mi; 4,600 km) of deep sea telegraph cable or 1,500 nmi (1,700 mi; 2,800 km) of coaxial telephone cable with repeaters. A hold, forward of

296-498: A fair speed to reach operation areas. 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 ,

333-412: A fair speed to reach operation areas. Electric drive was considered, but with the war were difficult to obtain. The design thus settled on oil fired boilers and two triple expansion steam engines driving two shafts. After design and model tests with design later coordinated with the builders to refine the final construction plans. This was to be the fourth cable ship to bear the name Monarch (the first

370-542: A fast speed at 6.5 ton load of 3 nmi (3.5 mi; 5.6 km) per hour. The novel arrangement allowed electric motors to stall yet still exert holding effect similar to that of steam driven cable machinery. The system also allowed regenerative power so that energy developed by cable being paid out can be used to provide electrical power to the ship's lighting and other systems. The anchor windlass and capstan motors were electrically powered. The most prominent external feature of cable ships until some recently designed were

407-615: A retired Royal Navy officer decades later. Scholars have since determined that in fact it was the British General Post Office ship CS Alert that carried out these attacks. The job of Alert was to locate and cut the five German cables heading into the Atlantic. A similar operation cut the German cables that connected Great Britain to the German coast. Successive missions by Telconia and other ships later in

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444-418: 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

481-408: 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

518-525: The Telegraph Museum Porthcurno shows an original configuration in which a "V" sheave was in the center flanked by two flat sheaves. Four main oil fired boilers, 15 ft (4.6 m) in diameter and 11 ft 6 in (3.5 m) long, provided steam for the main engine and steam driven auxiliaries. Two triple expansion engines with cylinders 21 in (53.3 cm), 35 in (88.9 cm), and 60 in (152.4 cm) with

555-546: The Samabula area of Suva. After testing to make sure the shore end was fully operational the shore end was spliced to the 1,214 nmi (1,397 mi; 2,248 km) of cable in Monarch's tanks. Monarch began the oceanic lay at dawn, 20 October, paying out cable at 6 kn (6.9 mph; 11 km/h). The ship arrived off Takapuna 28 October, picked up the shore end there and made the final splice on 29 October to complete

592-437: The bow sheaves and often stern sheaves that are included in length overall and are subject to change as cable machinery and needs change, thus will be a factor in length overall measurement as ships are modified. After a 1968 modification Monarch had three bow sheaves, a 5 ft 10 in (1.8 m) flat surface sheave and two 6 ft (1.8 m) "V" sheaves, and one 7 ft (2.1 m) "V" stern sheave. The model at

629-474: The cable (which can take some time to reach the bottom) and keep the cable straight, the repeaters are fitted with parachutes. CS Monarch (1945) HMTS Monarch , launched on 8 August 1945 and completed during February 1946, was the fourth cable ship with that name. The ship was built for the General Post Office (GPO) for the laying and repair of submarine communications cable and

666-660: The cable tanks, was available for lines and cable buoys. Oil bunkers had a 2,000 ton capacity with boiler feed and fresh water capacity each of 400 tons. Monarch differed from all previous cable ships in having all electric cable machinery. That avoided the need to run high pressure steam piping through forward parts of the ship and condensation problems in cold weather but had disadvantages regarding even torque and variable cable load from zero to full load. The ship's three cable engines, two forward (160 h.p. motors) for picking up or paying out and one aft (90 h.p) used for braking in stern laying, were supplied power by an unusual system of

703-610: The first Canadian transatlantic telephone cable CANTAT-1 in 1961, the Commonwealth Pacific Cable System (COMPAC) in 1963, and the South Atlantic cable SAT-1 in 1968. As one of the largest submarine cable laying ships, the Monarch was much in demand. It was chartered by Cable & Wireless for COMPAC, where it worked with the company's ships CS Retriever and the CS Mercury in

740-484: The line. In 1866 the SS ; Great Eastern successfully laid two transatlantic cables, securing future communication between the continents. 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

777-436: The machinery and general ship's service, and another providing constant current at 300 amperes used in the cable machinery solution. One generator set of each system is dual purpose while the other is permanently connected to the constant voltage board. In addition to the main generator sets there were two 100 kilowatt generator sets driven by two eight cylinder, 192 bhp, Paxman-Ricardo diesels that are for emergency use or when

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814-682: The more conventional, commercial designation "Cable Ship" (CS). In 1970 the ship was sold to Cable & Wireless and renamed Sentinel . The war loss of CS  Faraday left Britain without a large cable ship. The government decided the national need for such a ship should be met by construction of a modern cable ship to be assigned to the General Post Office. 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, high maneuverability, and

851-526: 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

888-502: The sea floor, which prevents fishing vessels from snagging cables as thrall their nets. HMTS Monarch (renamed CS Sentinel 13 October 1970) completed the first transatlantic telephone cable , TAT-1 , in 1956 from Scotland to Nova Scotia for Britain's General Post Office (GPO). The Ocean Marine System Group used a cable laying software designed by Makai Ocean Engineering Inc., in five of their cable installation and repair vessels. The MakaiLay software has been used by 90% of

925-720: The second link of COMPAC. In 1969, as a result of the Post Office Act 1969 , all General Post Office cable ships, including the Monarch , lost the use of the prefix ‘HMTS’ and became ‘CS’ (Cable Ship). The Monarch was sold in October of the following year to Cable & Wireless, who renamed it CS Sentinel , the second cable ship to bear the name. After an extensive refit at Immingham that prioritised its cable repair facilities over cable laying, it entered operational service in March 1971. Its first captain as CS Sentinel

962-585: The ship is in port with the boilers are shut down. One of the sets is for dual use, constant current or constant voltage while the other is only for constant voltage so that either or both could be used for the 220 volt ship's service or, for emergency cable operation, one could be providing constant 220 volts and the other 300 ampere constant current. The Monarch' s deck layout as outlined in The Shipbuilder & Marine Engine-Builder , April 1946, Plates IV and V, can be described as follows: The ship

999-469: The ship's hold as it is being manufactured. 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

1036-576: The southern Pacific. The ship's operation on the COMPAC segment between Suva and Auckland is an example of an oceanic cable layer connecting shore ends and terminal stations. Monarch arrived in Suva in October 1962 to pick up the shore end already laid by CS Retriever , which had also laid the shore end at Takapuna in New Zealand, that was buoyed some 3.5 nmi (4.0 mi; 6.5 km) off

1073-478: 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. The most common laying engine in use is the Linear Cable Engine (LCE). The LCE is used to feed the cable down to

1110-475: The war eliminated the remainder of Germany's cable network and, in some instances, pulled the cables up with their grapples and relaid them into British and French ports for use by the Allied powers instead. Cable ship The first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid by cable layers in 1857 to 1858. It briefly enabled telecommunication between Europe and North America before misuse resulted in failure of

1147-519: The worlds' global fleet of cable ships. These five OMS vessels were installed with this software on August 23, 2023, to reduce failures during installation and increase reliability, safety, speed, and accuracy: 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

CS Telconia - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-626: Was G. H.C. Reynolds. It had a crew of 26 officers and 89 petty officers and ratings. It was based in Vigo , Spain , and then Bermuda . CS Sentinel arrived 25 October 1977 at Blyth, Northumberland and scrapped the next month. The National Maritime Museum in London has a model (to 1:192 scale) of the Monarch , and there is a 10-foot (304 cm) model in Porthcurno Telegraph Museum ’s collection. The ship's bell

1221-756: Was built at Swan Hunter (Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Ltd), as hull 1768 at the Neptune Yard, Walker-on-Tyne (Low Walker), and launched on 8 August 1945. The ship, largest cable ship in the world at the time of its launch, was completed and handed over to the Postmaster General in February, 1946. The ship, as built, was 8,056  GRT , 8,950  DWT , fully loaded displacement of 14,000 tons, 475 ft (144.8 m) length overall, 435 ft (132.6 m) length between perpendiculars , 55 ft 6 in (16.9 m) breadth, and

1258-540: Was built in 1830 and was the first to be fitted out permanently as a cable ship ; the second Monarch , sunk by a mine in 1915, had been the first cable ship built for the General Post Office; the third Monarch was sunk by a mine in 1944). Monarch was designed by General Post Office engineers under the Engineer in Chief with the design completed in 1942 but construction delayed by war needs until late 1944. The ship

1295-455: Was normally necessary for the ship to slow down while the repeater was being laid. 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. Another issue with coaxial repeaters is that they are much heavier than the cable. To ensure that they sink at the same rate as

1332-420: Was radically changed during the 1968 refit with removal of the centre mast, a new deck house forward and major change to the bow sheaves. Over the course of its career, it laid or helped lay telecommunications cables all over the world, including TAT-1 in 1956, HAW-1 (the telephone cable between the continental United States and Hawaii ) in 1957, the second transatlantic telephone cable TAT-2 in 1959,

1369-534: Was the largest cable ship in the world when completed and the first cable ship to have all electric cable machinery. The ship was first engaged in repair and update of existing cables which had been neglected during the war. Monarch laid the first transatlantic telephone cable TAT-1 . In 1969 When the GPO became a public corporation, the Post Office, the designation "Her Majesty's Telegraph Ship" (H.M.T.S.) became

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