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.
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.
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.
[5] The newest design of cable layers, though, is a combination of cable-laying and repair ships.
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).
[6] To ensure that cable is laid and retrieved properly, specially designed equipment must be used.
[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).
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:[11] When coaxial cables were introduced as submarine cables, a new issue with cable-laying was encountered.
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.