A cable length or length of cable is a nauticalunit of measure equal to one tenth of a nautical mile or approximately 100 fathoms. Owing to anachronisms and varying techniques of measurement, a cable length can be anywhere from Шаблон:Convert, depending on the standard used.
The modern word cable is directly descended from the Middle English cable, cabel or kabel and also occurs in Middle Dutch and Middle German. Ultimately the word comes from Romanic, probably from a cattle halter.Шаблон:Sfn A cable in this usage cable is a thick rope or by transference a chain cable.Шаблон:Sfn The OED gives quotations from Шаблон:Circa onwards. A cable's length (often "cable length" or just "cable") is simply the standard length in which cables came, which by 1555 had settled to around Шаблон:Convert or Шаблон:Convert.Шаблон:Sfn
Traditionally rope is made on long ropewalks, the length of which determines the maximum length of rope it is possible to make. As rope is "closed" (the final stage in manufacture) the length reduces, thus the ropewalk at Chatham Dockyard is Шаблон:Convert long in order to produce standard Шаблон:Convert coils.Шаблон:Sfn
