TAT-12/13 is a ring cable system consisting of the 12th and 13th consortia
transatlantic telephone cable
A transatlantic telecommunications cable is a submarine communications cable connecting one side of the Atlantic Ocean to the other. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, each cable was a single wire. After mid-century, coaxial cable came into us ...
s, in operation from 1996, initially carrying 2 × 5 Gbit/s.
This was the first TAT cable to use a ring structure, involving two stretches of cable across the ocean floor, which explains why two numbers (12 and 13) were used. All later cables also use a ring structure, but only use one number (
TAT-14
TAT-14 was the 14th consortium transatlantic telecommunications cable system. In operation from 2001 to 2020, it used wavelength division multiplexing. The cable system was built from multiple pairs of fibres—one fibre in each pair was used fo ...
etc.). The cable connected between
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
(at
Shirley, New York
Shirley is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in Suffolk County, New York, United States. At the 2010 census, the population of Shirley was 27,854. Shirley is the western terminus of Atlantic Crossing 1, a major submarine telecommunicatio ...
Porthcurno
Porthcurno (, meaning ''"pinnacle cove"'', see below) is a small village covering a small valley and beach on the south coast of Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in a civil parishes in England, civil and an ecc ...
, UK;
Bude
Bude (, locally or ; Cornish language, Cornish ) is a seaside town in north Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Bude-Stratton and at the mouth of the River Neet (also known locally as the River Strat). It was sometimes formerly known as ...
TE Connectivity
TE Connectivity plc is an American-Irish domiciled technology company that designs and manufactures electrical and electronic components. It serves several industries, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, and energy.
TE Connecti ...
), STC Submarine Systems (acquired by
Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent S.A. () was a multinational telecommunications equipment company, headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France. The company focused on Fixed line telephone, fixed, Mobile phone, mobile and telecommunications convergence, ...
) and Alcatel Submarcom. Ring switching equipment was provided by the Toshiba Corporation in each of the four cable stations.
The cables in this system were the first on the trans-Atlantic route to make use of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers.
The TAT-12/13 consortia removed the cable from normal commercial service on 31 December 2008.