Table 15. Cable Ship Data 





No. of Cable 

 Tanks 



Volume of 



Nautical Miles of 



Ship^ 



Cable Tanks 

 (ft^) 



1.25-lnch-Diam 

 Cable^ 



Lcy 



1 



6,937 



80 



LSM 



2 



10,395 



125 



LST 



2 



15,777 



200 



USS Neptune 



3 



30,116 



415 



USS Aeolis 



3 



43,385 



610 



USS Thor 



3 



43,385 



610 



USACS A. J. Meyer 



4 



48,000 



615 



SS Salemum 



3 



22,354 



315 



SS Long Lines 



7 



139,000 



2,000 



SS Mercury 



3 



106,740 



1,200 



SS Neptune 



5 



222,500 



3,000 



SS Marcel Bayard 



4 



77,333 



1,000 



^ All the ships except the LCV, LSM, and LST are equipped with 

 automatic tensioning devices to compensate for sea conditions. 



^Ship loaded at 80% cable capacity. 



Varying ratios of syntactic and aviation gasoline can be used to 

 achieve negative, positive, or neutral buoyancy. The floats may or may not 

 have release mechanisms to enable them to return to the surface. A retrievable 

 flotation system would use rubberized fiber bags containing a mixture of 

 aviation gas and syntactic foam; upon reaching the bottom the bags would 

 be released by an imploding glass ball or spring-loaded trip mechanism. 



It is important that the power cable be allowed to relax as the load 

 module is emplaced. Cable stored in the tanks twists as it is deployed. The 

 twist is tolerable when the cable is laid on the bottom, since the surrounding 

 friction forces tend to secure the cable. However, in open water, the cable 

 would tend to coil. One way which could be used to solve this problem is to 

 unwind the cable from the tank in a tangential manner. Proper techniques 

 in applying cable armoring would also relieve the problem. The cable twist 

 problem during cable-laying operations must be investigated thoroughly in 

 the final design of underwater power systems. 



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