Cable Repair Ship - T-ARC

Description: USNS Zeus (T-ARC 7) is the first multi-mission cable ship designed and built by the U.S. Navy from the keel up. Its two main missions are oceanographic survey and 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, acoustic surveys 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 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: Zeus is the only active cable repair ship in the U.S. Navy.

Point of contact:
   Public Affairs Office
   Military Sealift Command
   914 Charles Morris Court SE
   Washington Navy Yard, D.C. 20398-5540
   (202) 685-5055 or www.msc.navy.mil

General Characteristics: Zeus Class
Builders: National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, Calif.
Power Plant: Diesel-electric, twin shaft, 10,200 shaft horsepower
Length: 513 feet
Beam: 73 feet
Displacement: 14,157 long tons (14,384.19 metric tons) full load
Speed: 15 knots
Ship: No homeport assigned
   USNS Zeus (T-ARC 7)
Crew: 51 civilians, 6 military and 32 scientists

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