USNS Zeus (T-ARC-7)

USNS Zeus (T-ARC-7) was the first cable ship specifically built for the United States Navy, and was planned to be the first of two ships of her class, however the second ship was not built, leaving Zeus as the only ship of her class to have been constructed. Capable of laying 1000 mi of cable at depths of up to 9000 ft, she is the only ship of her type currently operated by the U.S. Navy.

Function and Equipment
One of twenty-six ships in the Military Sealift Command's Special Mission Ships Program, Zeus's primary missions are to transport, deploy, retrieve and repair submarine cables and test underwater sound devices, with a secondary mission of conducting acoustic, hydrographic, and bathymetric surveys.

Zeus is equipped with a SIMRAD EM 121 sonar, and can also operate towed sidescan sonars and deploy data buoys to assist in oceanographic surveys. She is fitted with an extensive suite of equipment for the handling and deploying of undersea cable, including five cable tanks, tension machines, and other devices. She can also be fitted with the Heavy Overboarding System (HOS), a 72000 lb A-frame capable of deploying remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

Operations
USNS Zeus is operated by the Military Sealift Command, part of the U.S. Transportation Command and the operator of the majority of the U.S. Navy's replenishment, transport and auxiliary ships. Assigned to the MSC Atlantic Special Mission Support Force, she is operated by a majority civilian crew, and is assigned no permanent homeport.

Zeus underwent an overhaul period at Norfolk, Virginia in 2008. In 2012, the Zeus will be assigned on a mission to lay an underwater optic fiber cable from the U.S. Naval station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to South Florida as part of a larger effort to upgrade the naval facility.