Undersea cable facts for kids

An Undersea cable or Submarine communications cable is a cable that is laid in the sea or in waterways. Usually such cables either carry electricity or they are used for telecommunication. Cables longer than about 70 kilometres (43 mi) use direct current, because the loss is too big with alternating current. Such cables are also built in a very rugged way.

Images for kids

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  A telegraph stamp of the British & Irish Magnetic Telegraph Co. Limited (c. 1862).

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  Operators in the submarine telegraph cable room at the GPO's Central Telegraph Office in London c. 1898

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  Eastern Telegraph Company network in 1901. Dotted lines across the Pacific indicate then-planned cables laid in 1902–03.

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  Landing of an Italy-USA cable (4,704 nautical miles long), on the Rockoway beach, New-York, January 1925.

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  Submarine communication cables crossing the Scottish shore at Scad Head on Hoy, Orkney.

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  A map of active and anticipated submarine communications cables servicing the African continent.

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  An animation showing a method used to repair submarine communications cables.