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

CS Albert J. Myer
by Bill Glover

CS ALBERT J. MYER

Built in 1946 by Pusey and Jones, Wilmington, Delaware

Length 334.0 ft. Breadth 47.1 ft. Depth 30.8 ft Gross tonnage 3929

Sister ship to CS William G. Bullard.

USNS Albert J. Myer in the Indian Ocean, June 1977
Photograph courtesy of and copyright © 2015 by Karl Weber, Radioman 1st class USN and member of the MilDet, who served on the ship in the 1970s

Named after the founder and first Chief Signal Officer of the US Signals Corps, Brigadier General Albert J. Myer. Built for the United States Army and completed in 1946, the ship was placed in reserve until 1952 then commissioned for service with the Alaskan Communications System and for special projects for the United States Navy and Air Force.

The services of Mr. C.S. Lawton of Western Union were used in the design, resulting in the layout being similar to that of the Lord Kelvin. The Sundfelt Equipment Company supplied the cable machinery, which consisted of a steam-powered combined paying out/picking up machine capable of lifting 30 tons at 1 knot. This was mounted at the aft end of the foredeck with the drums accessible on the deck above. A paying out machine with twin V-sheave holding back gear was mounted on the port side aft. Four cable tanks were fitted, with a total capacity of 49642 cubic feet, three situated forward and one aft. Transferred to the US Navy in 1966, when she became USNS Albert J. Myer.

In 1980 she underwent a major refit and remained in service until decommissioned on 1 January 1994. The Albert J. Myer was scrapped by International Shipbreaking Ltd., Brownsville, Texas in 2005.

CABLE WORK

1956 (with CS Basil O. Lenoir) Port Angeles, Washington State - Ketchikan - Skagway, Alaska
1961 Hampden, Newfoundland shore ends of CANTAT 1

See Ramon Jackson's page [archive copy] on the Albert J. Myer for more information on the ship.

USNS Albert J. Myer in September 1976
Photographs courtesy of and copyright © 2015 Karl Weber

Cableships Index Page

Last revised: 14 January, 2018

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