of Theobald's Road, London.
1935 Submarine Cables Ltd was formed by Siemens Brothers and Co and Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Co when, because of the Depression, there was insufficient work for the submarine cable divisions of the 2 companies.
1935 Private company.
1937 First cables laid between England and Holland. Stockpiling of cables for World War 2 provided a substantial amount of work.
After WWII, the company was involved in the manufacture of many of the new co-axial telephone cables, much at the newly built factory at Erith.
1954 AEI purchased Siemens Brothers and Co and so acquired a 50% interest in Submarine Cables Ltd.
1953 The first transatlantic telephone cable, known as TAT-1, was announced by the Postmaster General in December 1953, a joint venture between the General Post Office, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and the Canadian Overseas Telecommunications Corporation.
Repeaters for TAT-1 were designed at the Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill and made by Standard Telephones and Cables Limited, Woolwich; the repeaters in the British section used specially designed pentode valves made by the Post Office for deep water use.
Between 1955 and 1956, two cables were laid between Oban and Clarenville, Newfoundland by Submarine Cables Limited - one for each direction of speech. The intermediate or shore portion of the cable had a heavier mild steel armouring, compared to the deep sea lengths.
TAT-1 remained in use from 1956 until 1978, being withdrawn from service after the installation of much higher capacity cables across the Atlantic.
1959 British Insulated Callender's Cables (BICC) acquired Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Co and in so doing acquired 50% of Submarine Cables Ltd. From that date much of the submarine cable work was undertaken by Submarine Cables Ltd whilst other departments, such as power cables, were absorbed by BICC. Another section which was transferred to Submarine Cables was that which manufactured and installed cable laying equipment on cable ships.
1959 Following the success of TAT-1, the second Atlantic cable, TAT-2, was laid from France to Canada. This was technically similar to TAT-1. The cable was manufactured by Submarine Cables Ltd (1900 nm), Simplex Wire and Cable Co. (600 nm), Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke (1000 nm), Cables de Lyon (1000 nm). The project was organised by AT&T, the French PTT, and the German PTT.
1961 Manufacturers of plastic insulated submarine telecommunication cables and submerged repeaters. [1]
This is a specimen of the cable that was used to create the first link in the Commonwealth Round the World Cable, called the
1961 The Canadian Trans-Atlantic Telephone Cable, or CANTAT-1 was made by the company and laid from Oban to Corner Brook, Newfoundland. This cable dispensed with armouring, instead a steel cable at the centre of the inner conductor gave the strength needed for laying and recovery.
1966 BICC sold its 50% holding in Submarine Cables to AEI
1967 Became part of GEC's Telecommunications business, joined with Telephone Cables Ltd[2]
1970 GEC sold the company to Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ The Times, July 30, 1968