USNS ''Zeus'' (T-ARC-7) is the first cable ship specifically built for the United States Navy.NAVSO P-3002, p. III-37. Though planned to be the first of two ships of her class, the second ship was not built, leaving ''Zeus'' as the only ship of her class. She is capable of laying of cable at depths of up to .

Function and Equipment

One of twenty-six ships in the

Military Sealift Command Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US m ...

's Special Mission Ships Program,"MSC Ship Inventory: USNS Zeus"
Military Sealift Command. Accessed 2010-05-16. ''Zeus''s primary mission was to support the

Sound Surveillance System The Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) was a submarine detection system based on passive sonar developed by the United States Navy to track Soviet submarines. The system's true nature was classified with the name and acronym SOSUS themselves classi ...

(SOSUS) that was renamed a year after the ship's commissioning as the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) in 1985. The ship's function was to transport, deploy, retrieve and repair submarine cables and test underwater sound devices, with a secondary mission of conducting acoustic, hydrographic, and bathymetric surveys."MSC Fact Sheet: Cable Repair Ship - T-ARC"
Military Sealift Command. Accessed 2010-05-16. ''Zeus'' is equipped with a SIMRAD EM 121 sonar, and can also operate towed sidescan sonars and deploy data buoys to assist in oceanographic surveys. She is fitted with an extensive suite of equipment for the handling and deploying of undersea cable, including five cable tanks, tension machines, and other devices. She can also be fitted with the

Heavy Overboarding System Heavy may refer to: Measures * Heavy (aeronautics), a term used by pilots and air traffic controllers to refer to aircraft capable of 300,000 lbs or more takeoff weight * Heavy, a characterization of objects with substantial weight * Heavy ...

(HOS), a A-frame capable of deploying remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). Five 3,600 brake horsepower General Motors diesels each driving a General Electric 2,500 kVA, 60 Hz, 600 v alternator provided power through a main alternating current bus for all ship power. Fourteen rectifiers from the bus supplied 750 v direct current for the two General Electric 5,000 brake horsepower propulsion motors. All engines could be on line providing maximum propulsion power for transit speeds while some engines might be shut down for lower speed work with cable. In port one engine could provide hotel service power. Structures at the stern formed a Heavy Overboarding System capable of deploying heavy equipment including free swimming heavy Cable Repair Systems, a 250 hp Sea Tractor for cable burial and deployment from either ship or a beach, and a Sea Plow for cable burial.

Operations

USNS ''Zeus'' is operated by the

, part of the U.S. Transportation Command and the operator of the majority of the U.S. Navy's replenishment, transport and auxiliary ships. Assigned to the MSC Atlantic Special Mission Support Force, she is operated by a majority civilian crew, and is assigned no permanent homeport. ''Zeus'' underwent an overhaul period at

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

in 2008. In 2012, ''Zeus'' was assigned on a mission to lay an underwater fiber optic cable from the U.S. Naval station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to South Florida as part of a larger effort to upgrade the naval facility.

Future

In June 2020, the Navy released a draft request for proposals for companies to compete to build a replacement for USNS ''Zeus'' known as the T-ARC(X), to be outfitted with cable handling equipment including cable tanks, cable transporters, cable tension machines, over-boarding sheaves and dynamometer cable fairleader. It will also be equipped with a moon pool and a variety of hull mounted sonar systems to support the primary and secondary missions. The government intended to award the contract by October 2020.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * NAVSO P-3002. ''Navy Fact File'', ninth edition. United States Navy office of Information, 1989.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zeus (ARC-7) Cable ships of the United States Navy Ships built in San Diego 1982 ships