SMD Ultra Trencher 1 starts its new job: laying pipes and cables in the briny deep
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/nzpORb1yknkzuFV.FfmI.w--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTQ2MQ--/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/HFdh8B3h3UxuS5laxy6cVw--~B/aD0yODg7dz00NDA7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/03/ultra-trencher-1.jpg)
What's supposedly the largest deep-sea remote-controlled robot ever built was rolled out this week: the SMD Ultra Trencher 1 (UT1), a 50 ton, £10m ($19.8m) ROV the size of a small domicile (25.5 x 25.5 x 18.3 feet). Capable of sucking up two megawatts of power while using its "jet swords" trench deep sea pipelines up to a meter wide and 2.5 meters deep into the sea floor (while operating at a depth of up to 1500m), the UT1 is clearly just in time. We hear the CIA errant anchors are due to snip another three or four deep-sea internet backbone cables, so the UT1's got its work cut out for it.