Cable Laying/Repair Ship -T-ARC

Last updated: 13 Oct 2021

Point of Contact
Military Sealift Command
Public Affairs

471 East C St.
Norfolk, VA 23511-2419

(757) 443-2839

Description
USNS Zeus (T-ARC 7) is the first cable ship designed and built by the U.S. Navy from the keel up. Its main mission is the installation and maintenance of submarine cable systems. Zeus combines her main propulsion system with bow- and stern-mounted tunnel thrusters in an integrated control system that provides the precise track-keeping and position-holding capabilities required for cable laying and repair, array-laying operations, projector towing and other mission tasks.

Features
USNS Zeus is fitted with a wide array of cable handling equipment including five cable tanks, cable transporters, cable tension machines, self-fleeting cable drums, overboarding sheaves and a dynamometer cable fairleader. She can lay up to 1,000 miles of cable in depths of up to 9,000 feet without resupply. Zeus is also equipped with both single-beam and multi-beam (SIMRAD EM 121) sonars for bottom profiling and can deploy towed sidescan sonars and camera sleds. Current, temperature and density systems, deployed acoustic measurement buoys and environmental measurement buoys also provide data measurement of the ocean environment.

Background
USNS Zeus is the only active cable laying/repair ship in the U.S. Navy. She was delivered to MSC in 1984.

General Characteristics, Zeus Class

Builder: National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, California

Propulsion: Diesel-electric, twin shaft, 10,200 shaft horsepower

Length: 513 feet

Beam: 73 feet

Displacement: 14,334 tons (14,563.34 metric tons) full load

Speed: 15 knots

Crew: 51 civilians, 35 sponsor personnel

Homeport: No homeport assigned

Ships:

USNS Zeus (T-ARC 7)

Point of Contact
Military Sealift Command
Public Affairs

471 East C St.
Norfolk, VA 23511-2419

(757) 443-2839

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