CS Monarch (1945)

History
Name	Monarch (1945—1970) Sentinel (1970—1977)
Owner	General Post Office (1945—1969) Post Office (1969—1970) Cable & Wireless Ltd. (1970—1977)
Operator	General Post Office (1945—1969) Post Office (1969—1970) Cable & Wireless Ltd. (1970—1977)
Port of registry	United Kingdom
Builder	Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd., Neptune Yard, Walker-on-Tyne
Yard number	1768
Launched	8 August 1945
Completed	February 1946
In service	1946-1977
Fate	Scrapped November 1977
General characteristics
Tonnage	8,056 GRT 8,950 DWT
Displacement	14,000 tons (fully loaded)
Length	475 ft (144.8 m) LOA 435 ft (132.6 m) LBP
Beam	55 ft 6 in (16.9 m)
Draft	27 ft 10 in (8.5 m) (fully loaded)
Installed power	Four boilers for main engines and steam auxiliaries, including two steam turbines for electrical plant. Cable machinery all electrically driven Two 100 kilowatt steam turbo-generator sets Two 100 kilowatt 8 cylinder diesel driven generator sets
Propulsion	Two triple expansion steam engines, total 4,500 h.p.
Speed	14.5 kn (16.7 mph; 26.9 km/h)
Capacity	125,000 cubic feet (3,539.6 m3) coiled cable in four tanks

HMTS Monarch, launched on 8 August 1945 and completed during February 1946, was the fourth cable ship with that name. The ship was built for the General Post Office (GPO) for the laying and repair of submarine communications cable and was the largest cable ship in the world when completed and the first cable ship to have all electric cable machinery.

The ship was first engaged in repair and update of existing cables which had been neglected during the war. Monarch laid the first transatlantic telephone cable TAT-1.

In 1969 When the GPO became a public corporation, the Post Office, the designation "Her Majesty's Telegraph Ship" (H.M.T.S.) became the more conventional, commercial designation "Cable Ship" (CS). In 1970 the ship was sold to Cable & Wireless and renamed Sentinel.^{[note 1]}
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