The Story of the First Ultra Modern Phone Cable Ship - AT&T Archives

Ғылым және технология

See more from the AT&T Archives at techchannel.att.com/archives
Bonus Edition Introduction by George Kupczak of the AT&T Archives and History Center
The story of the Bell System's first "ultra modern" Cable ship. Included in the film are her first cable laying assignments: the third cable across the Atlantic Ocean (Transatlantic Cable Number 3), and the first cable across the Pacific Ocean (Transpacific Cable Number 1 -- from Hawaii to Japan, via Midway, Wake and Guam). Also shown are the cables laid from Guam to the Philippines, the second Hawaiian cable back into San Luis Obispo on the California Coast, and the Vero Beach, FL to St. Thomas, V.I. cable system.
The following operations are detailed in the film: cable manufacture, cable loading, repeater splicing, and cable laying techniques.
The C.S. Long Lines was launched in 1961, but started its assignments in 1963.
The ship was 511 ft long, and was fitted with 3 "cable tanks", which could hold 2168 nautical miles of cable.
The ship was sold by AT&T in 1997, after having laid cable on 23 missions, including 10 across the Pacific or Atlantic, from 1963 to 1992. The ship was broken up in 2003.
Producer: Audio Productions, Inc.
Footage courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJ

Пікірлер: 112

  • @bruceryba5740
    @bruceryba57404 ай бұрын

    Had the pleasure and misery to do a lot of this same work on the Eastern Test Range in the 1980's, dirty, exciting, seasick, sunburned, not enough sleep, adventure, I still talk about. Worse was the cables covered in creosote and jute. The stuff dried and we worked in a cloud of dust that stung. An ocean squall off Grand Bahama broke the cable one time during splicing and we had to search for the end. Another time off Antigua a co worker was flipped on his head and we had to cut the new splice and run for shore for a doctor. Another time we got back to Cape Canaveral after repeater training and when we unloaded the davit used to load and unload those giant buoys, the davit was found to have only one bolt holding it together-three bolts sheared during rough water. On Ascension Island, we had to place those iron protectors on the cable in the surf zone and up to the building. Another time on Antigua, I was cutting the balloons from the cable we had just moved--my hand was on the rope to get a steady cut, and suddenly the rope broke and before I could let go, I was instantly drug to the surface, seeing sunlight and clouds and through my regulator said Hol%%%%% am I dead? And dove for the bottom and sat 30' underwater not sure what was going to happen. Another time on Ascension, I heard a pop in my ear while diving and tasted salt water wtf? Wow that adventure had some good and bad days.

  • @radiofun232
    @radiofun2324 жыл бұрын

    So good that AT&T has made so many documentary films in the past! They knew the importance of what they made and it is a great fun to watch all these films.

  • @johnkern7075
    @johnkern7075 Жыл бұрын

    I remember when one of those cables washed on on Gilligan's Island. They used it to try to call for help. :)

  • @robozstarrr8930
    @robozstarrr89303 жыл бұрын

    ....man with the most important job in this entire documentary and made this all possible... is that young fella in the ship that walks around in a circle loading the cable on board!

  • @zelphx
    @zelphx4 жыл бұрын

    I don't know why, but this old tech is fascinating... especially at the mid-point of this video.

  • @foureyedchick

    @foureyedchick

    4 жыл бұрын

    These old timers that designed all this high-tech stuff were not stupid!

  • @sbalogh53
    @sbalogh532 жыл бұрын

    29:23 .... Little did they know how true and underestimated this statement would be.

  • @leonarddavies288

    @leonarddavies288

    Жыл бұрын

    Hmm Ukraine flag 😳 virtue signalling are we?

  • @sbalogh53

    @sbalogh53

    Жыл бұрын

    @@leonarddavies288 ... Hop back under your rock Leonard

  • @leonarddavies288

    @leonarddavies288

    Жыл бұрын

    Ukraine is the most corrupt country in Europe by a country mile.. Run by the Azov nazis they've been killing ethnic Russians since 2014, whatever the MSM tell you then you know they are lying scum

  • @chuckxxx1
    @chuckxxx19 жыл бұрын

    I am pretty sure the guy on the left at 25:05 is my Great Uncle. I try hard to get him to tell me about his experience. He said he was in charge of these submarine line installations as well as in charge of the phone call from the President to the Japanese Prime Minister. He says he was just picked on to do all this work.

  • @Sciron

    @Sciron

    3 жыл бұрын

    That’s pretty cool!

  • @halonothing1

    @halonothing1

    Жыл бұрын

    I'm a bit late to the party, but that is a cool story. Thanks for shoring.

  • @anthonylappin6657
    @anthonylappin6657Күн бұрын

    I love this guy.

  • @MattRiding
    @MattRiding Жыл бұрын

    It was only one coax cable?! Quite amazing how they used valves in the repeaters, I didn't think they lasted all that long and required relatively frequent replacement.

  • @ut4321
    @ut43213 жыл бұрын

    Fantastic achievement!

  • @Alprazolam
    @Alprazolam11 жыл бұрын

    This was when the US was a booming economic juggernaut unparalleled in its innovation and craftsmanship. Now I feel as though we're not a powerful as we once were. We've peaked in economic testosterone like a middle aged man.

  • @comm744

    @comm744

    4 жыл бұрын

    @Jeffery Amherst We just need the Democratics to get cancer.

  • @cloneNK1124

    @cloneNK1124

    4 жыл бұрын

    You shouldn't wish that on anyone. Only wish Gods wisdom for all.

  • @dadillen5902

    @dadillen5902

    4 жыл бұрын

    @Gilded Chamber I am, but that big black domino like thing still scares the hell out of me. What are you doing?

  • @Janet_scribbles

    @Janet_scribbles

    4 жыл бұрын

    Greed gave away our edge

  • @sonus289

    @sonus289

    3 жыл бұрын

    that's because our politicians don't have vision and are concerned with all the wrong things. Even business and civilians are concerned about all the wrong things..we can never be the way were then if ALOT of PEOPLE and goings on don't change FAST!

  • @wezite1983
    @wezite1983 Жыл бұрын

    7:37 Wait, so the guy walking around the centre core literally has to walk 3,000 miles! I'm guessing the other 3 guys who are sat there making sure the cable is in place, will at some point take it in turns. But still, that's 750 miles of walking each!

  • @Pisti846
    @Pisti8468 жыл бұрын

    I wish they would leave the original Bell System/Western Electric opening intact.

  • @deepbludude4697
    @deepbludude46974 ай бұрын

    Very cool!

  • @hamsidoroff7056
    @hamsidoroff70563 жыл бұрын

    So great job! So great project!

  • @brandonbarr2784
    @brandonbarr27842 жыл бұрын

    They were probably the first boat crew that everyone got to call home every day

  • @foureyedchick
    @foureyedchick4 жыл бұрын

    Excellent video! ☻ Very educational and entertaining as well! 👍

  • @NewsBroadcasting
    @NewsBroadcasting3 жыл бұрын

    18:25 the Japanese repeaters and equipment still work today

  • @spankyharland9845
    @spankyharland984511 ай бұрын

    leave it up to Bell Lab AT&T to make cable laying fun and exciting....

  • @MrXminus1
    @MrXminus16 ай бұрын

    Who services and maintains and lays cables now that ATT is no more?

  • @tomharris8263
    @tomharris82634 жыл бұрын

    This is a huge project. Very interesting operation. Is this cable still in use?

  • @andreacoppini

    @andreacoppini

    3 жыл бұрын

    Probably not. It’s a copper cable and the Repeaters were using vacuum tubes.

  • @georgeshadrick640
    @georgeshadrick6404 жыл бұрын

    Very informative thank you for your video on your service

  • @nandanm3826
    @nandanm38264 жыл бұрын

    Great.

  • @RonJohn63
    @RonJohn638 жыл бұрын

    13:10 A "small" computer...

  • @zelphx

    @zelphx

    4 жыл бұрын

    That got a chuckle from me, too :)

  • @seanjuth
    @seanjuth4 жыл бұрын

    From New Jersey to ice cream heaven

  • @mb4lunch
    @mb4lunch4 жыл бұрын

    Funny how they had to lay all this cable after the triumph of Telstar and other satellites! And still to this day we use almost exclusively undersea cables!

  • @brianarbenz7206

    @brianarbenz7206

    4 жыл бұрын

    The sharks can't eat Telstar! :)

  • @sleeptyper

    @sleeptyper

    4 жыл бұрын

    Capacity and lag...

  • @andreacoppini

    @andreacoppini

    3 жыл бұрын

    @Paul Morley Starlink has entered the chat...

  • @cindytepper8878
    @cindytepper88784 жыл бұрын

    It's a bit more modern than The Great Eastern :O

  • @judd_s5643
    @judd_s56433 жыл бұрын

    Does anyone know where I can find the names of the “officer” crew that served on board CS LONG Lines?

  • @MikeKoss
    @MikeKoss3 жыл бұрын

    The first trans-oceanic cable was laid in 1858, NOT 1956 as stated here!

  • @charlesprotzman4664

    @charlesprotzman4664

    Жыл бұрын

    That was for telegraph I believe

  • @tanello2
    @tanello22 жыл бұрын

    i wunder how mutch did that US-Japan line cost and what was its lifespan ?

  • @RyanMcAndrews
    @RyanMcAndrews11 жыл бұрын

    is there more information available from AT&t about how at&t determined that there was a demand for these undersea cables?

  • @VideoNOLA

    @VideoNOLA

    4 жыл бұрын

    One of their earlier (1950s) news reels showed a graph of the exponential growth in telephony since 1905, to the point where line multiplexing became necessary. After WW2, long distance communications grow so rapidly that AT&T's line-of-sight microwave beaming became taxed, and they soon looked skyward (with Telstar 1) for sending messages and television signals around the globe via satellite. Coincidentally, with the invention of the maser/laser in 1957, optical methods quickly grew into being and copper lines replaced with fiber optics.

  • @dshmechanic
    @dshmechanic3 ай бұрын

    They should have just named this ship the "C.S. DMV" and called it a day.

  • @fredderf3207
    @fredderf32076 ай бұрын

    When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, he discovered he had missed three calls from Chuck Norris!

  • @jmd1743
    @jmd1743 Жыл бұрын

    So did AT&T name their long line network after a ship?

  • @Tuvock1
    @Tuvock19 жыл бұрын

    Fiber optic cables uses light and therefore do not generate any kind of electric field.

  • @RonJohn63

    @RonJohn63

    8 жыл бұрын

    +gobo760 Transmitting electricity 3,000 miles is pretty darned impressive!! (Or did they send some from North America and some from England+France? Even if so, transmitting it 1,000 to 1,500 miiles is still impressive.)

  • @tylersheehy3918

    @tylersheehy3918

    5 жыл бұрын

    True but if you look in to fiber optic cable open it chold cause blindniss

  • @dadillen5902

    @dadillen5902

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@tylersheehy3918 So can playing with yourself.😮😣😆

  • @kf5wt
    @kf5wt5 жыл бұрын

    I wonder how many phone conversations each cable could carry at once.

  • @VideoNOLA

    @VideoNOLA

    4 жыл бұрын

    The cable carried 35 simultaneous calls, and 22 telegraph lines (squeezed into a 36th voice line).

  • @ComradePoop

    @ComradePoop

    10 ай бұрын

    ​​@@VideoNOLAseems like a good capacity for when it was $50 a min

  • @RonJohn63
    @RonJohn638 жыл бұрын

    4:22 Why is there are cable from Newfoundland to the northern tip of Scotland?

  • @ftldny

    @ftldny

    7 жыл бұрын

    That is the shortest undersea route

  • @RonJohn63

    @RonJohn63

    7 жыл бұрын

    FTL Ireland and Cornwall look much closer on this map. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Ocean_dumping_of_radioactive_waste_in_Atlantic_Ocean.png/800px-Ocean_dumping_of_radioactive_waste_in_Atlantic_Ocean.png

  • @ftldny

    @ftldny

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@RonJohn63 Try looking at the routes on a globe.

  • @Cashpots
    @Cashpots7 жыл бұрын

    Others may be able to listen to your nasal drawl, personally I think you got the job because you owned the company!

  • @dadillen5902

    @dadillen5902

    4 жыл бұрын

    So what do you own?

  • @wiedep
    @wiedep11 жыл бұрын

    @ 21:24 the US flag is displayed incorrectly.

  • @rurome2151

    @rurome2151

    4 жыл бұрын

    It’s possible the flags are displayed head to head, representative of the nations coming together on the project. Hard to tell, since the Japanese flag doesn’t appear to distinguish top/bottom. But of course it could be they’re all civilians and unaware of flag protocol.

  • @cedric-johnson4094

    @cedric-johnson4094

    3 жыл бұрын

    And no one cares.

  • @BTOverserved
    @BTOverserved4 жыл бұрын

    22:59 They don't grow tomatoes like that anymore.

  • @Sciron

    @Sciron

    3 жыл бұрын

    LOL

  • @BajaTym
    @BajaTym3 ай бұрын

    Interesting, it appears that the officers on board are US Navy personnel. Hmm.

  • @billyfulks5587
    @billyfulks55874 жыл бұрын

    The host at the beginning yells and has a lisp.

  • @ggallintribute7142

    @ggallintribute7142

    4 жыл бұрын

    He's so annoying

  • @stanpatterson5033

    @stanpatterson5033

    4 жыл бұрын

    Really glad we didn't hear any more from him after the introduction.

  • @peterweatherley7669

    @peterweatherley7669

    4 жыл бұрын

    Folks, show respect. Despite the voice, he’s the curator of this collection. We wouldn’t have the opportunity to enjoy all this without his efforts

  • @towedarray7217
    @towedarray72176 жыл бұрын

    Are the 500lb 'repeaters' (voice amplifiers) nuclear-reactor powered? Hard to imagine they'd be passive and I can't imagined what other power could they use at the sea bottom. Reminds me of the magnetic induction tap that the US used during operation Ivy Bells.

  • @bobweiss8682

    @bobweiss8682

    6 жыл бұрын

    The power source was a high DC voltage (~5000 volts) fed into the cable from the shore stations. The telephone signals were superimposed onto this voltage, and separated by the use of blocking capacitors and filters at each end. Inside each repeater, various networks were used to derive filament and plate voltages for the amplifying tubes, which needed considerably less than 5000V to operate. The high voltage was needed to ensure sufficient power along the entire length of the run.

  • @davidjames666

    @davidjames666

    4 жыл бұрын

    Bob Weiss your explanation is nothing more than science fiction. I think the repeaters are nuclear powered as that solution makes sense

  • @VideoNOLA

    @VideoNOLA

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@bobweiss8682 What's more, the comparatively recent invention (by AT&T scientists) of the transistor allowed for efficient and compact signal amplification that earlier would have required bulky, hot vacuum tubes, hardly suited to undersea deployment. Funny how so many factors (plastics, shielding, multiplexing, coaxial cables, peace time, etc.) arose in rapid succession to make this entire process possible as well as economically viable.

  • @bobweiss8682

    @bobweiss8682

    4 жыл бұрын

    You can read the Bell System Technical Journal article for yourself. No mention of a miniaturized reactor for power... www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Bell-System-Technical-Journal/60s/Bell-System-Technical-Journal-1964-4-Complete.pdf

  • @comm744

    @comm744

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@davidjames666 What? You sound like a confused troll. Hmm.

  • @bobcole612
    @bobcole6123 жыл бұрын

    Residential fiber to the prem drops also emit a high frequency tone that can drive dogs crazy. Dogs will dig up these drops on occasion.

  • @GmanMilli
    @GmanMilli4 жыл бұрын

    12:00 Pre-GPS era?

  • @peterweatherley7669

    @peterweatherley7669

    4 жыл бұрын

    A couple of things here: 1) GPS’ first launch came a good fifteen years or so after this was recorded and 2) ships have been navigating by the sun and Pole star for centuries. The device that sailor is holding is what’s known as a sextant

  • @rogerheathcote3062
    @rogerheathcote30627 жыл бұрын

    Erm first transoceanic cable was 1858 surely? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_telegraph_cable

  • @peterweatherley7669

    @peterweatherley7669

    4 жыл бұрын

    Telegraph, not telephone

  • @rogerheathcote3062

    @rogerheathcote3062

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@peterweatherley7669 You and I know that Peter, but our host doesn't make the distinction and I think they probably ought to. I know I was pretty shocked when I found out we had transatlantic cable laying ships 20 years before the invention of the internal combustion engine.

  • @billp4
    @billp44 жыл бұрын

    This was pretty good but they should have hit a gong a couple of times when they were in Japan.

  • @JohnSmith-mz3ny
    @JohnSmith-mz3ny4 жыл бұрын

    Notice the magenta colour, no green, eastman kodak....ha ha.

  • @funnyyylock

    @funnyyylock

    4 жыл бұрын

    Is that a type of camera? Interesting

  • @JohnSmith-mz3ny

    @JohnSmith-mz3ny

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@funnyyylock it's a film process that disintegrates with age, and finally becomes opaque, many classics are lost by this process, unlike technicolor.

  • @irgski
    @irgski4 жыл бұрын

    fiber optic cable does not emit any kind of signal that would “drive sharks wild”.

  • @laurencepollen1456

    @laurencepollen1456

    4 жыл бұрын

    the electric current for the repeaters does

  • @dadillen5902

    @dadillen5902

    4 жыл бұрын

    Is that the latest girls go wild DVD, sharks gone wild?

  • @andreacoppini

    @andreacoppini

    3 жыл бұрын

    This wasn’t fiber optic, it was coaxial. All electrons

  • @johneygd
    @johneygd7 жыл бұрын

    While those cables were put into the ocean for worl wide telephone communication, but thanks today's smart compression technics,it is and can be now also used for internet,digital tv & digital radio,if they dit not had invented such smart compression technic, they had to start all over again for layed down cables under the ocean flour!!!

  • @rampagerick

    @rampagerick

    5 жыл бұрын

    TPC-1 only had 384kHz bandwidth in each direction. That's about 1/4 of a 1.5Mbps T1 line, or about 7 dial-up modems. They essentially did start over and lay new lines. All of the original cables were abandoned and only 4-5th gen cables and newer are used for modern communications.

  • @goldenboy5500
    @goldenboy55004 жыл бұрын

    all obsolete now

  • @cloneNK1124

    @cloneNK1124

    4 жыл бұрын

    Just like 4G will be very soon.

  • @user2C47

    @user2C47

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@cloneNK1124 This is unlikely to happen in rural areas due to the limited range of 5G.

  • @jasonrohrssen3394
    @jasonrohrssen33947 ай бұрын

    Who tf picked this narrator. Social programming much???

  • @patton303
    @patton3033 жыл бұрын

    18:34: Cue racist Asian music.

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