History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy

	History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network
CS Sovereign by Bill Glover

CS SOVEREIGN

CS Sovereign when operated by BT Marine Ltd.

Built in1991 by Van de Giessen de Noord, Netherlands.

Length 127.3 m Breadth 21 m Depth 7 m Gross tonnage 11242

Built for BT Marine Ltd. as a cable layer/repair vessel. Fitted with four tanks with a total capacity of 2800 cubic metres or 6200 tonnes of fibre optic cable. Cable laying via a stern sheave 4 metres in diameter and a 40 tonne 4 metre diameter drum cable engine. Cable repair was undertaken via the bow sheaves and two 40 tonne 4 metre diameter drum cable engines.

When Cable & Wireless (Marine) Ltd. took over the BT cable fleet. ownership of CS Sovereign was assumed by BT Forty Ltd. C&W acted as managers and operators of the vessel. When Global Marine Ltd. took over the C&W cable fleet similar conditions applied.

CS Sovereign at the Global Marine Systems Depot,
Portland Harbour, Dorset
Photo © T.F. Watson 2004

The vessel's main duties are on Atlantic cable maintenance. Her home port is Portland, Dorset.

During a recent spell in dry dock, Sovereign had two, 2300 tonne, basket turntables fitted into two of its cable tanks. These are to enable the ship to lay non-coilable cables (power cables). The paying out rate of these turntables is 1000 metres per hour.

CABLE WORK

1992	SAT 2: Funchal, Madeira and El Medano, Tenerife - Melkbosstrand, South Africa CS Vercors laid the cable from Melkbosstrand to the first branching unit; CS Sovereign laid the remainder
1995-6	TAT 12/13: USA - England - France - New York (With Nexus & Vercors)
1999	ESAT 2: Ainsdale Sands, England - Dublin, Ireland (Shore ends)
2006	Estlink: Helsinki, Finland - Talin, Estonia (Two power cables)
2008	BT LIBERTY: Guernsey - England
2008	NORTHERN LIGHTS: Dunnet Bay, Scotland - Skaill, Orkney Islands
2009	HANNIBAL: Kelibia, Tunisia - Mazara, Italy
2010	SG-SCS: Surinam - Guyana - Trinidad

Last revised: 23 September, 2011

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