Abridgment of 75-kv. submarine cable for deep water station

This paper describes the problems attending the laying of eight 75-kv. submarine cables across the Delaware River in the vicinity of Wilmington. To insure against injury, the cables were laid in a backfilled trench the depth of which was determined by experiments. By terminating the cable on platforms just inside the pierhead lines it was possible to use a cable of 4050 ft. (maximum length possible for one of the accepted manufacturers to make) as compared with a river width of 5100 ft. To avoid the excessive healing of that portion of the cable out of water at the cable platforms, the steel armor was replaced by one of nonmagnetic material so designed as to avoid corrosion and electrolysis. The problem of laying the limited lengths of cable in the trench with minimum deviation was satisfactorily met with specially developed methods. The construction work was completed in five months, under winter conditions and with river traffic heavy.