A subsea steep wave lock and guide mechanism (1) for elongated articles (2) such as cables, pipes and umbilicals provides a substantially horizontal inlet (6) for the article at seabed level and a substantially vertical flexible article outlet (4) leading to the steep wave. The lock and guide mechanism (1) includes a number of lockable/releasable gates (20-24) for restricting and defining allowable movements of the article in the horizontal as well as in the vertical direction.

A local remote operated vehicle for installing an elongated element (1)--such as a submarine cable--on a sea bed from a laying vessel or cable ship (2),--includes a guideweight/tracking gear (4) suspended from the ship and riding on the element (1). The gear (4) includes a garage (10) for hosting a local ROV (11) linked to the garage with a tether cable (12) long enough to enable the towed local ROV to monitor the element touchdown area (6).

A device for restricting the bending diameter and bending strain exerted on elongated articles (1) such as cables, pipes, umbilicals and other elongated articles is used when installating such articles from a cable ship to a sea bed. There is used a number of wire elements (32,33) which are arranged for tensioning the annular elements into contact with each other. The wire elements (32,33) are equally distributed in or on the annular elements to ensure uniform compression of these elements.