Submarine communications cable

A cross section of the shore-end of a modern submarine communications cable.
1  Polyethylene
2  Mylar tape
3   – Stranded steel wires
4  Aluminium water barrier
5  Polycarbonate
6  Copper or aluminium tube
7  Petroleum jelly
8  Optical fibers
Submarine cables are laid using special cable layer ships, such as the modern René Descartes, operated by Orange Marine.

A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the seabed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea. The first submarine communications cables were laid beginning in the 1850s and carried telegraphy traffic, establishing the first instant telecommunications links between continents, such as the first transatlantic telegraph cable which became operational on 16 August 1858.

Submarine cables first connected all the world's continents (except Antarctica) when Java was connected to Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, in 1871 in anticipation of the completion of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line in 1872 connecting to Adelaide, South Australia and thence to the rest of Australia.[1]

Subsequent generations of cables carried telephone traffic, then data communications traffic. These early cables used copper wires in their cores, but modern cables use optical fiber technology to carry digital data, which includes telephone, Internet and private data traffic. Modern cables are typically about 25 mm (1 in) in diameter and weigh around 1.4 tonnes per kilometre (2.5 short tons per mile; 2.2 long tons per mile) for the deep-sea sections which comprise the majority of the run, although larger and heavier cables are used for shallow-water sections near shore.[2][3]

  1. ^ Anton A. Huurdeman, The Worldwide History of Telecommunications, pp. 136–140, John Wiley & Sons, 2003 ISBN 0471205052.
  2. ^ "How Submarine Cables are Made, Laid, Operated and Repaired", TechTeleData
  3. ^ "The internet's undersea world" Archived 2010-12-23 at the Wayback Machine – annotated image, The Guardian.

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search