Dear ndnd-ga,
World-wide, over 100,000 km of cable is being laid annually across the
oceans and seas. The potential routes for cables are surveyed so the
sea floor conditions are known in advance and the route can be
planned. On the Continental Shelf areas an underwater plough or
submersible buries the cable to a depth of between 0.6 and 3 m. These
can operate up to a depth of 1500m ? 2000m. In deeper areas the cable
lies on the surface. In most cases cable laying is carried out by
starting at each end of the intended route and laying the cable until
it meets in the middle or at a point where the water is too deep to
control the underwater plough or it is no longer required. The cable
is then joined and dropped from the cable laying ships for it to
settle on the sea bed. Early cable laying attempts were conducted in
one go from shore to shore.
The Alcatel web site has two excellent animations on cable laying.
Click on the following.
?LAYING A SUBMARINE CABLE From shore to shore, watch the laying of a
submarine cable?
REPAIRING A SUBMARINE CABLE How the cable vessels operate when a
cable is broken deep down in the sea.
http://www.alcatel.com/submarine/how/index.htm
The International Cable Protection Committee web site has information
on cable laying and its history. http://www.iscpc.org/
In particular you can read of the problems encountered in the early
years when the cable weighed too much and broke, or there was
difficulty in joining the cable in mid-ocean.
Go to the site and click on Information on the left. Then in the
section ?Learn about Submarine Cables? click on Narrative History.
The link ?Articles of Interest? will take you to some other
interesting sources so of information. In particular, the web site on
the history of the Atlantic Cable. http://www.atlantic-cable.com/
It has some contemporaneous accounts of how the first cable was laid.
It is worth exploring.
?The depths to which the Niagara will have to sink her portion vary
quickly and irregularly from 1,500 to 2,500 fathoms, or from 1 3/4 to
about 3 1/2 mile; and this is the case also with the Agamemnon's
portion of the distance. But on the American side the water shoals
easily and gradually towards Newfoundland, whereas, on the British
portion of the ocean the Agamemnon will have to surmount a tremendous
ridge, which may be called the Andes of those vast submarine plains of
the Atlantic. It commences at about 15 deg. west longitude, and in the
course of a few miles the water suddenly shoals from 1,750 fathoms to
550. Up this vast rocky precipice - almost as steep as the side of
Mont Blanc - the cable must be laid with extreme care. The difficulty
once overcome, the way thence to Valentia becomes comparatively of no
account.?
http://www.atlantic-cable.com/Article/1858Leslies/index.htm
Underwater Web: Cabling the Seas, a Smithsonian Institute Library Feature
http://www.sil.si.edu/Exhibitions/Underwater-web/index.htm
Portcurno Museum
http://www.porthcurno.org.uk/html/index.html
Modern cable layers and submersibles can be seen on these pages.
http://www.globalmarinesystems.com/site/R_vessels.htm
http://www.globalmarinesystems.com/site/R_submersibles.htm
Other sources used in this answer.
http://www.forgetrack.co.uk/UserStory/item5.htm
I hope this answers your question. If it does not, or the answer is
unclear, then please ask for clarification of this research before
rating the answer. I shall respond to the clarification request as
soon as I receive it.
Thank you
Answerfinder
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