Talk:CS Alert (1890)

So what was the overall strategic impact of the cable-cutting?
Did anything noteworthy actually get decoded because the Germans had to switch to radio? Gradenkian (talk) 11:32, 4 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, something very noteworthy was decoded; the Zimmermann Telegram which was partly responsible for the US entering the war. It wasn't a radio intercept, it was a diplomatic cable that had to go via London because of the cable cutting.  It was supposed to be a secure (against the British) route because it was controlled by the Americans, but the British secretly intercepted it.  The British put about a story that it was a radio intercept to hide the fact they were monitoring American communications. I might put something in the article about that later. SpinningSpark 13:21, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

When and how did the cables get restored to service?
Gradenkian (talk) 11:44, 4 February 2019 (UTC)
 * As German cables, probably never. Many German cables were diverted to Allied destinations during the war.  I don't have any information on Alert being involved in any of this work.  The Azores cable, for instance, was diverted into Penzance in 1917 by Colonia (Haigh, p. 330).  After the war, German cables and cable ships were seized as war reparations and never returned to Germany. SpinningSpark 13:33, 4 February 2019 (UTC)