[cperciva]

Figure out roughly where the problem is (a number of ways of doing this), then send a boat out with a hook to grab the cable off the bottom of the ocean. Pull it up to the surface, fix it, and lower it back down.

Incredibly expensive operation, so you want to avoid this if at all possible...

[hanniabu]

When we're saying incredibly expensive, what are we talking here? $10M repair job?

[tim333]

I googled and found this https://ore.catapult.org.uk/app/uploads/2018/02/Export-Cable...

Costs between £5.3m and £15.5m

Wikipedia has a nice gif of the repair process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_communications_cable...

Funny random thing from that. In 1959 the Americans got annoyed by a Russian trawler breaking their cable and complained they'd broken the Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegraph Cables of 1884. Who'da thought this was going on in 1884?

[Symbiote]

> Who'da thought this was going on in 1884?

It's well-known in Britain, at least. It looks to be part of the science examination taken at age 16 [2].

On your Wikipedia page, the section "British dominance of early cable" [1] describes the early success in this technology.

Last time I was at the Science Museum in London, they had an exhibition on transatlantic cables. I think it's part of the permanent exhibition. [0] [3]

[0] https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/how-per...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_communications_cable...

[2] https://www.bbc.com/teach/class-clips-video/the-invention-of... (video probably only available in the UK).

[3] https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/search/gallery/infor...

[samstave]

You would probably be interested in looking into the USS Jimmy Carter submarine....

The one the NSA uses to pull up and splice spying equipment into undersea cables....

[Theodores]

They don't do that with most of the cables, the cable just comes ashore and goes into the NSA/GCHQ box and that is it.

So I guess that Google have done a deal with the devil already with this, wherever that cable comes ashore will be the mystery room with mystery kit inside, much like what goes on in Sennen in Cornwall. Cable and Wireless operate the cable, it goes to the GCHQ box that then connects with GCHQ in Bude and then on to the doughnut in Cheltenham where the spying for the NSA is done. This is the 'special relationship'.

Nobody thinks Google is evil(!) so you have to wonder how much is done as per the 'Glomar Explorer', with the whole thing being a bit of a cover story. The race is on for Africa with the option being Google doing it or the dreaded Huawei doing it, which would really mean getting the USS Jimmy Carter out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glomar_Explorer

[cheerlessbog]

“Britain's very first action after declaring war on Germany in World War I was to have the cable ship Alert (not the CS Telconia as frequently reported)[12] cut the five cables linking Germany with France, Spain and the Azores, and through them, North America.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_communications_cab...

[adolph]

I’d like to read more about the theory behind that decision. There are so many interesting possibilities if the cables were left in place.

Also, how did the Zimmerman telegraph happen if Germany to Mexico was cut off?

The telegram was sent to the German embassy in the United States for re-transmission to Eckardt in Mexico.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram

[selimthegrim]

I believe they had enough wireless stations to get across the Atlantic or they could communicate via diplomatic bag through neutral countries/ones with intact cables

[billfruit]

The first transatlantic cable was laid in 1858. I guess the major continents all had been connected before the end of 1800s.

[stingraycharles]

What measures are taken to avoid this? I read somewhere that these cable are not actually buried into the ground, but rather lay on top of the ground. That sounds very risky to me?

[wereHamster]

They are buried only when close to shores or in other high risk areas. There is no point in burying a cable if the sea bed is 3 miles under the surface. There is still danger, from animals biting into the cable (sharks are known to do this). But the cables are wrapped in steel cables so not even a shark should be able to cut through.

[thaumasiotes]

> There is no point in burying a cable if the sea bed is 3 miles under the surface.

There is a point, it's just not something we're able to do. You can get the cable onto the sea bed by lowering it from the surface. We know how to get to the surface.

To bury it, you'd need to run a digging operation at the bottom of the ocean.

[emiliobumachar]

...which we're able to do, we do somewhat similar digs for offshore oil all the time, but it's not worth the gargantuan expense. The risk of leaving it exposed is worth it.