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Revision as of 22:46, 3 January 2019 by Spinningspark (talk | contribs) (→Bibliography: + O'Connell)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) A cable-laying ship that had a significant role in World War I| General characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Type | paddle-steamer cable ship |
| Tonnage | 369 t |
| Length | 167.8 ft |
| Beam | 25.3 ft |
| Depth | 12.1 ft |
| Propulsion | twin paddles |
CS Alert, or HMTS Alert, was a cable-laying ship that had a significant role in World War I. She was built in 1871 by A. McMillan and Son of Dumbarton. The ship was named Lady Carmichael c. 1880 when she was purchased by the Submarine Telegraph Company, who had laid the first submarine cable across the English Channel. Lady Carmichael was the wife of the company chairman. The ship was used for repair work in coastal waters. It had a shallow draught and could turn on the spot by counter-rotating its twin paddles. The cable winch, built by Thames Iron Works, could double as a paying-out machine for cable-laying work. In this mode the winch was taken out of gear and controlled with the brake.
In 1890 the Submarine Telegraph Company was nationalised when the GPO was given a monopoly of the telegraph in the UK. The GPO took over operation of the ship and renamed it Alert.
When Britain entered World War I, one of its first acts was to cut German submarine telegraph cables around the world. At the time, Britain dominated the worldwide telegraph network. The idea was to force German communication on to radio where it could be intercepted and attempts made to decode it. Without telegraph connections, Germany could only communicate with its African colonies, and other locations outside Europe, through its high-power radio transmitter at Nauen. On 5 August 1914, the day after war was declared, Alert was sent out from Dover to drag for, and cut, five German cables in the English Channel.
Alert was scrapped in 1915 as unseaworthy. Its winching gear was recovered and installed on the second CS Alert built in 1918. However, this was later replaced with the same type of gear fitted to the third CS Monarch