I'd love some references to back this claim up. I have no idea what it costs to fix an undersea cable, but ships can go for many millions.
It's a different class of vessel than I expect is used in these types of incidents, but I recently read an article about the Coast Guard's purchase of a $125m icebreaker[1].
Still hurts. They are not owned by the state, this is not how it works. Someone was granted to buy and operate them, and possibly promised to keep the vessels later. Even for scraping. So, still a loss.