History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications
from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network

1969 Japan-Siberia Cable

The 1969 Japan - Siberia cable, 477 nm in length, was manufactured by the Ocean Cable Company of Japan, with transistorised repeaters supplied by the United States Underseas Cable Corporation. The cable was of the lightweight design, using a stranded steel core for mechanical strength, this being surrounded by the copper conductor. The cable was taken out of service in June1996 and subsequently used for scientific research.

The US Underseas Cable Corp. was formed in 1959, and all its previous cables were for military use, supplied to the United States Airforce. The Japan - Siberia cable was laid by KDD Maru, chartered for this job, as the company's own ship, CS Neptun (3), was engaged on cable guard duties. K.D.D. (Kokusai Denshin Denwa Company) laid the cable, in partnership with the Great Northern Telegraph Company.

See the 1963 Western Electric cable page for more information on lightweight cables.

Research Material Needed

The Atlantic Cable website is non-commercial, and its mission is to make available on line as much information as possible.

You can help - if you have cable material, old or new, please contact me. Cable samples, instruments, documents, brochures, souvenir books, photographs, family stories, all are valuable to researchers and historians.

If you have any cable-related items that you could photograph, copy, scan, loan, or sell, please email me: billb@ftldesign.com