Celebrating her 115th birthday this year is the Greek cable-laying ship Thalis o Milisios (Thales of Miletus), considered the world’s oldest surviving cable ship, and on display at the Flisvos Marina near Athens.
Completed as the steamship Joseph Henry by the Newport News shipyard in Virginia during 1909, the 51.2m vessel was acquired by the Greek Telecommunications Co (OTE) in 1947 and for the next 35 years laid more than 140 cables between the various Greek islands until retired in 1982. Thereafter, the 476grt vessel was donated to the Aegean Maritime Museum for preservation.
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