HAW-1

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HAW-1 (Hawaii No. 1) was the first undersea telecommunication cable linking Hawaii with the U.S. mainland. Laid in 1957, it used two cables, each carrying 36 channels in one direction, and stretched about 2,625 nautical miles (4,862 km) from Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii to Point Arena, California.

Plans for the route followed the start of San Francisco–Hawaii toll dialing in 1950 and were announced in 1955. The cables were built by Submarine Cables Ltd. and Simplex Wire & Cable Co., and commissioned by AT&T Long Lines and the Hawaiian Telephone Company. The laying ship HMTS Monarch started at Point Arena on July 15, 1957; it met the CS Ocean Layer in mid‑ocean, which finished the link to Hanauma Bay. A radio-relay link connected the cable to Oakland for the national network.

The first message went through August 3, 1957, and public service began October 8, 1957. In 1964, HAW-1 became part of the transpacific route from Japan to the United States, sharing traffic with a newer Makaha, Oahu–San Luis Obispo cable. The system used the same cable technology as TAT-1, the first Atlantic cable, and, because repeaters at the time only amplified in one direction, two cables were needed for the Hawaii–mainland route.

HAW-1 provided the first direct operator dialing between Hawaii and the mainland and remained in service until 1989, when it was retired and replaced by fiber-optic cables.