HAW-1
HAW-1 (Hawaii No. 1) was the first submarine telephone cable laid between Hawaii and the mainland United States. HAW-1 was laid in 1957, and consisted of two cables, (one transmitting in each direction), each carrying 36 channels, with an individual length of 2,625 Nmi (4,862 km) each. The cable originates in Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii and lands at Point Arena, California.
Manufactured by Submarine Cables Ltd. (2,030 nm) and Simplex Wire & Cable Co. (2,380 nm), the 1957 telephone cable from California to Hawaii was commissioned by AT&T and the Hawaiian Telephone Company, and was laid by HMTS Monarch and CS Ocean Layer.
Monarch commenced laying the cable from Point Arena (San Francisco) on 11 July 1957, and after laying 1900 miles met in mid-ocean with Ocean Layer, which put down the remaining 665 miles of cable into Hanauma Bay on Oahu. The first message through the cable was sent on 3 August 1957, and the ships then laid the eastbound cable, completing the installation in the Autumn of 1957.
The cable used for HAW-1 was of the same type as used for TAT-1, the first telephone cable across the Atlantic Ocean, which had been laid the previous year, and also for the 1956 USA to Alaska telephone cable. At that time, the repeaters worked in only one direction, therefore two cables were needed for each route. The Hawaii No. 1 cable provided the first direct operator dialing between Hawaii and the mainland and was retired in 1989 after 32 years of service, then being replaced with more advanced Fiber Optic cable technology.
