UCT 1 - Unit of choice for GTMO cable landing

Courtesy Photo | GTMO Cable Landing project site after Underwater Construction Team ONE completes operations.  

GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA

01.20.2016

Courtesy Story

Underwater Construction Team ONE

By BU1(SCW/DV) Christopher Kelly
Underwater Construction Team ONE

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - Dial-up internet, America Online (AOL), and the sound of a modem connecting through the phone line. These memories take us back to the ‘90s with the birth of the World Wide Web and 56kbps. To put that into perspective: at maximum speed which is rarely attained, one poor quality song might have taken 10 minutes to download; a movie took 28 hours at best! Today, customers can purchase fiber-optic services with access speeds up to 500 Mbps, almost 9,000 times the speeds from 20 years ago. With Verizon FIOS speed estimates, that same song downloads in less than a second and the movie in less than 15.

At Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, (GTMO) the current satellite broadband network provides an experience reminiscent of the 1990s. Bandwidth limitations plague the user’s experience. In the article, "How does it work: Satellite Communications” written by Army Sgt. Saul Rosa, service managers claim that 50 percent of the bandwidth can be affected by just 5 percent of users. In an attempt to prevent such monopolization, users are automatically logged off the network every four hours. Traffic remains so heavy, however, that successfully downloading much of anything within the four-hour time limit is virtually impossible. Streaming video is equally as, if not more, frustrating. Screens often buffer until they time out and video quality diminishes beyond recognition. These days will soon be over for residents of GTMO.

In November 2015, an eight-man detachment from Underwater Construction Team One (UCT ONE), dubbed Construction Dive Detachment Delta (CDD/D), completed the landing of a fiber-optic cable running from south Florida to GTMO’s windward side.

In a true team effort, UCT ONE CDD/A began initial site preparations in November 2014 by clearing the boulders from the path. The Operations Department outlined the scope of work and specific tasking at the planning conference in May 2015. The final site visit took place in September during which points of contact and support assistance were secured.

Defense Information System Agency (DISA) funded the $40 million project who utilized Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC EXWC) to coordinate with UCT ONE to conduct diving operations and survey for the project.

Lt. Ross Penrod, from NAVFAC EXWC Dive Locker, was responsible for coordinating diving operations, support, and hydrographic and diver surveys at the GTMO shore landing site. He spoke of the coordination required and UCT’s role, ”(This was) a very challenging project involving four different commands and two different contractors to come together and execute on a short timeframe. The ability of the UCTs to provide crucial services in support of this project that provided a significant cost savings over a contractor led effort, decreased the complexity of working on a restricted Naval Base such as Guantanamo Bay, and exercised a core UCT mission area to support a high priority peacetime project.”

The cable landing consisted of four main phases. Phase one, site preparation, included the clearing of the cable path on the shoreline and in the water. To complete this arduous task, CDD/D used underwater hydraulic tools to break large boulders into smaller, manageable rocks. Operating the BR-67 on shore while divers used the BR-87 underwater, the crew removed obstructions along the path to minimize cable bend radii and suspensions over craggy rocks.

With the hydraulic tools weighing 67 and 87 pounds respectively, the work was both physically and mentally challenging. In extremely hot and humid conditions, the shore crew battled with the heat and sun while divers contended with leverage, stability, and the inherent dangers of diving operations. The work was back breaking. Dives lasted up to two hours, much of which was spent in water so cloudy with sediment that divers were unable to see their hands in front of their masks let alone the tools they were operating. MK-20 full face masks in scuba/AGA mode with through-water communications were utilized to minimize support equipment and maximize diver’s freedom of mobility. By the end of this phase, the crew broke apart rocks as big as a Volkswagen Beetle clearing several tons of material. In the last task of the phase, scuba divers built a gradual slope from the rocky surf zone to the smooth sandy bottom nearly 200 feet off shore by individually placing rocks by hand.

Phase two consisted of placing a 1,400-pound ground plate and running the ground cable ashore. The plate was loaded on the bow ramp of a MK-8 boat with the cable faked out on the deck. Once the cable was ran ashore, the plate was offloaded with a 1,500-pound lift-bag attached. A surface swimmer deflated the lift-bag just enough to allow the plate to sink slowly to the seafloor. Divers re-inflated the lift-bag to orient the plate properly and placed the ground cable in the desired location before securing critical connection points with concrete bags and rebar stakes.

Phase three. Two fiber-optic cables were to be landed from the IT Intrepid: the primary to service GTMO and the stub to service Puerto Rico in the near future. One at a time, the cables were transferred to from the IT Intrepid to the tender that ferried to the shore laying cable along the way. A fast boat nudged the tender as needed to keep it on line. After securing a three-point moor, surface swimmers guided the cable as a winch pulled it through conduit inland. After both cables were secured, the IT Intrepid laid the stub cable 20 kilometers out to sea while divers pulled slack from the shore to place the cables in the optimal location minimizing suspensions over and contact with coral outcroppings.

Phase four began with the installation of 200 feet of split pipe on each cable. Surface swimmers worked with divers to secure the split pipe to the cables with nuts and bolts installed in less than four hours. The longest bottom time logged during this phase was three hours and 46 minutes! The crew then marked GPS coordinates at each critical location along each cable path from the shoreline out to sea 800 meters reaching depths of 70 feet of seawater. Lastly, divers collected video documentation of the three cables’ as-laid conditions to serve as a baseline for future inspections.

Dive Detachment Delta executed its critical role in the GTMO cable landing project to completion with precision and accuracy. In typical UCT fashion, the job was executed with a balanced combination of diving capabilities, physical labor and technological assets. More than just alleviating buffer and loading frustrations reminiscent of the early ‘90s, the improved access speeds that will come with the fiber-optic upgrade will allow service members and residents to stay connected with their friends and families back home. Quality of life will improve and morale with it. Underwater Construction Team ONE is humbled by the opportunity to positively affect the day to day lives of those aboard Naval Station Guantanamo Bay and looks forward to a similar contribution in Puerto Rico.

• Date Taken: 01.20.2016
• Date Posted: 01.20.2016 11:50
• Story ID: 186633
• Location: GUANTANAMO BAY, CU