CABLE WORK
The Global Sentinel left Portland Oregon for the Morro Bay segment of the
Asian
American Gateway Cable on March 29, 2009. This 140 kilometer segment is the last
section of fiber-optic cable needed to complete the project.
The Global Sentinel is 477 feet long. 90 feet wide and has a draft of
24 feet.
She is capable of 60 days at sea. The ship was built in 1991 and
can travel at 17 knots.
The cable is laid off the bow. The pipe structure keeps the cable in place.
It's 160 feet from the bridge windows to the bow.
There are two cranes on the bow. They are used for loading supplies as well as deploying
the large buoys that can mark the end of the cable. During the Morro Bay project the buoys
were almost deployed the night the wind was gusting 60+ knots. The ships dynamic positioning system
received a real test but was able to control the ship and cutting the cable was avoided. It takes up
to 12 hours to splice the cable.
The cable is coiled and stored in 3 large tanks amidships. The Global Sentinel is one of six
ships built for cable installation. This group of ships is called the Reliance Class.
Click here to see a cutaway of the ship.
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The gantry on the stern launches the plow. The cable is buried from 1000 fathoms to the beach. This burial insures that the cable will remain undisturbed. |
The Global Sentinel's boom deployed for an at sea re supply of groceries.
The Jacobs ladder on the side is for personnel transfer.
