Underwater world of the Internet [continued] or how to dim optics in the Russian territorial waters

About where drowned optics in the oceans have already been said. It is time to talk about the almost mystical project of laying a fiber-optic communication line to Sakhalin Island with videos, photos, maps, turnouts, but no passwords.







Any interesting projects begin with a bright idea. And such a bright idea arose for Dalsvyaz company - to lay a fiber optic cable along the bottom of the Tatar Strait from Sovetskaya Gavan to Uglegorsk on Sakhalin Island. I do not know for certain when such an idea arose, but it can be argued for sure that in 2004 there was a commercial proposal for the design of a fiber-optic line through the Tatar Strait.

Let's keep silent for a while about how the design and other necessary work was carried out on the creation of documentation and all sorts of agreements with various interested organizations.

In general, the line itself and related engineering structures were created from August to October 2005.

')





What can be seen from the video:

1. The cable is thin enough for underwater installation (I would even say the minimum possible diameter for laying along the seabed);

2. The cable was laid by simply lowering it to the bottom without deepening and additional fixing elements so that it would not be carried along the bottom.



As expected, the following events soon occurred:

1. In the period from 17:00 hours 05.12.2005 to 08:00 hours 06.12.2005 at a distance from the control point located in Sovgavani - 132 km, in the area of ​​coupling No. 1 (coordinates 49 ° 04 '- 142 ° 01') . The last control measurements before the damage were made: from the Sovgavansky communications center - 05.12.2005 at 17:00, from the Uglegorsk communications center - 05.12.2005 at 16:00. The measurements carried out on December 6, 2005 at 9:30 pm from the Uglegorsk telecommunication center showed that the cable damage site is located in the marine area of ​​the village of Uglegorsk at a distance of 2257 m from the coastal line of Fr. Sakhalin. An additional message was received on December 14, 2005: Information on vessels operating in the area of ​​an optical cable break (Sakhalin island 49 ° 04 '06' ') from 17-00 05.12.05 to 05-00 06.12.05 - Rover CTR , postscript - Sakhalin.



It is possible to look at the damaged cable taken from the water.





The procedure for fishing and repair in several photos is as follows:







here it is a damaged section of the cable







release of optics from reinforcement







the next series shows the bonding of the dangling ends of the optics with a clutch, this is shown in more detail in the video



















after repair the cable was again thrown into the sea.



2. March 22, 2006 - coordinates of the damage point: 49 ° 00'44 ”N, 140 ° 43'08" E The vessel of the October Revolution was, according to operational data, approximately 0 at the time of fiber line damage, 5 degrees east of the indicated coordinates.

3. March 27, 2006 - new coordinates of damage sites were obtained:

a. 49 ° 03'50 ”N, 140 ° 55'51” E

b. 49 ° 04'02 ”N, 140 ° 57'06” E

information was received on the passage in the immediate vicinity of the named points of the ship STR "Shebunino" (fishing specialization - shrimp trawling, port of registration - Nevelsk).

Places rush look like this:







In general, after such treatment with optics, it came into complete disrepair, it was taken out of the water and thrown on the shore. After that, the line of communication between Sakhalin and the mainland ceased to exist.



There are several reasons why this happened:



Initially low-quality design of the line and the choice of a contracting organization that does not have experience of similar work, based on the minimum declared price of work.



When designing, the design organization did not take into account the negative experience in the operation of the cable belonging to the Pacific Fleet and located near the proposed routes of the FOCL cable. At the same time, according to unofficial information, the cable of the Pacific Fleet practically from the date of its installation in the 70s of the XX century, for a number of years, is in a chronically inoperable state due to the systematic cable gusts by fishing vessels.



Selecting the type and brand of cable that does not satisfy the loads that are not exerted by the environment.



The cable was not buried in the ground, because of this, it was constantly demolished by currents and fishing vessels could easily damage it.



According to the results of an internal investigation, the appropriate conclusions were drawn on how to properly heat the cable into the sea:



To conduct tenders when choosing project and contract organizations, where the main goal of the tender should not be the minimum price, but the maximum quality.



Examine the VOLP project by a specialized design organization (Giprosvyaz OJSC, Giprosvyaz SPb OJSC, Giprosvyaz-4 OJSC) on the validity of the choice of routes, cable laying technology, etc.



To equip standard coastal alignment marks, navigation lights, warning labels indicating the sea direction of the coastal part of the cable route.



Sign an agreement with FSUE "Kamchatka Communications and Monitoring Center" in order to ensure continuous monitoring of vessels located in the Tatar Strait water area, where the FOL route is laid, and also to timely notify vessels located in this area to prohibit any actions on anchored and fishing works.



Attract as contractors specialized construction organizations with experience in the construction of such facilities.



In general, a negative result is also a result.



Taking into account the negative experience of Dalsvyaz, TransTeleCom carried out the necessary design work and on September 13, 2007, announced the completion of work on laying the submarine fiber-optic cable connecting the mainland segment of the Backbone Digital Communications Network (MCSS) with the Sakhalin segment. The cable is laid on the bottom of the Tatar Strait between Sovetskaya Gavan (Khabarovsk Territory) and Ilyinsky (Sakhalin Island) and connected to the coastal sections that were previously installed. To ensure the reliability of the underwater cable system, the cable is buried in the ground to a depth of 1 meter, its total length is 214 kilometers.







However, the deepening per meter did not help either, since on October 26, 2007 at about 21:20 local time, the connection was broken. The damage to the underwater cable system occurred at a distance of 67 km 710 m from the village of Ilinsky (Sakhalin Island). The depth of the Tatar Strait in this place is 360 m. That is. literally a month later, with a small cable out of order. But unlike Dalsvyaz cable, which was simply laid along the bottom without penetration, TransTeleCom cable was not so easily repaired ...



And finally, more information from the same Dalsvyaz. On December 17, 2009, the company officially announced the start in 2010 of construction of a fiber-optic communication line (FOCL) section on the Sakhalin-Mainland. The commissioning of the line is scheduled for 2011. According to the director of the Sakhalin branch of the company, the cable will go along the section between Cape Pogibi and the mainland, where Rostelecom has a copper line. The copper line of Rostelecom appeared at the turn of the 70-80s of the last century. Over the years of its existence, the line was damaged only once. This place was chosen by Dalsvyaz also because there is no navigation and anchorages on this section ...







I think that the third time it will be possible to lay a fiber-optic line to Sakhalin, which will serve for decades without damage ...