C.S. Sovereign Explained

C.S. Sovereign is a class DP2 type cable ship used for subsea cable installation and repair works.^[1] The ship was designed by BT Marine with Hart Fenton & Company as Naval Architects (now Houlder Ltd) and built by Van der Giessen de Noord in 1991.^[2]

C.S. Sovereign has four cable tanks. Two main tanks each have a capacity of or 2,668 tonnes. Two wing tanks have a capacity of or 432 tonnes each. The vessel is equipped with two hydraulic powered drums in diameter and four wheel pair haul-off gears.^[3]

Main cable works

• 1992 – SAT-2 (CS Vercors laid the cable from Melkbosstrand to the first branching unit; C.S. Sovereign laid the remainder)
• 1995–1996 – TAT-12/13
• 1999 – ESAT 2 (Ainsdale Sands, England – Dublin, Ireland)
• 2006 – Estlink (power cable)
• 2008 – BT LIBERTY (Guernsey–England)
• 2008 – NORTHERN LIGHTS (Dunnet Bay, Scotland – Skaill, Orkney Islands)
• 2009 – HANNIBAL (Kelibia, Tunisia – Mazara del Vallo, Italy)^[3]
• 2010 - SGSCS (Port of Spain, Trinidad - Georgetown, Guyana - Paramaribo, Suriname)
• 2010 - EMEC (power cable installation for various tidal and wave generators in Orkney Islands, Scotland)
• 2010/2011 - JUDY (power/fibre cable installation between oil/gas platforms in the North Sea)

Notes and References

1. Book: Middlemiss . Norman L. . Cableships . August 2000 . Shield Publications . Gateshead, UK . 978-1-871128-18-5 . 86.
2. Web site: CSS Sovereign - Cable Laying Ship . Hart Fenton & Company . 2010-06-15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090106014933/http://www.hart-fenton.com/sovereign.htm . January 6, 2009 .
3. Web site: History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network. CS Sovereign . Glover . Bill . Atlantic-Cable.com . 2010-06-15.