Clearance diver
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A clearance diver was originally a specialist naval diver who used explosives underwater to remove obstructions to make harbours and shipping channels safe to navigate, but later the term "clearance diver" was used to include other naval underwater work. Units of clearance divers were first formed during and after the Second World War to clear ports and harbours in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe of unexploded ordnance and shipwrecks and booby traps laid by the Germans.
In some navies, including Britain's Royal Navy (RN), work divers, which includes ship's divers, must have a line and a linesman when possible.
History
The first units were Royal Navy Mine and Bomb Disposal Units. They were succeeded by the "Port Clearance Parties" (P Parties). The first operations by P Parties included clearing away the debris of unexploded ammunition left during the Normandy Invasion. Six groups of Clearance Divers including Commonwealth and European allied forces were in operation by 1945.[citation needed]
Naval work diver training is much longer and harder than sport diver training and has much stricter entry requirements.[clarification needed][citation needed]
For a long time[clarification needed] navies used the heavy standard diving dress for underwater work. During and after World War II some of them started using frogman-type gear[citation needed] when frogman's kit became available. Later they started often using open-circuit scuba gear for work diving.[citation needed]
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Australia
The Royal Australian Navy Clearance Diving Branch clearance divers also serve as combat divers.[1]
France
The French Navy clearance divers are known as plongeurs démineurs.[2] The French Army has clearance divers as well named plongeurs de combat du génie.[3] To avoid redundancy, they only operate in freshwater environments. Although they are trained in demolition and explosives clearance, they also survey banks and possible crossing areas, and may make offensive interventions.
New Zealand
The Royal New Zealand Navy Operational Diving Team (ODT) are clearance divers and also serve as combat divers.[citation needed]
North America
- Canada: Canadian armed forces divers[citation needed]
- US: Underwater Demolition Team - US Navy, 1943–1967[citation needed]
- Underwater Construction Teams US Navy, 1960’s - Present
Mainland Europe
- Estonia: EOD Tuukrigrupp (EOD Clearance Diver UNIT)[citation needed]
- France: France's Clearance Divers are called the Plongeurs Démineurs [fr] (link in French).[citation needed]
- Germany: Minentaucher is Germany's Clearance Diver force.[citation needed]
- Ireland (Republic of): Naval Service Diving Section (NSDS).[citation needed]
- Lithuania: EOD Diving unit[citation needed]
- Norway: Minedykkerkommandoen Norway's naval work divers and Clearance Diver force, "Norwegian Naval EOD commando".[citation needed]
- Portugal: the Sapper Divers Group, which also serve as combat divers unit.[citation needed]
- Sweden: Swedish Navy EOD division[citation needed]
United Kingdom
British Royal Navy naval work divers are officially called Clearance Divers.[4]
During WWII they used the Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus, no wetsuit or swimfins. [5]On December 17, 1942, 6 Italians on three manned torpedoes attacked Gibraltar harbour. A British patrol boat killed the crew of one torpedo (Lt. Visintini and Petty Officer Magro) with a depth charge. Their bodies were recovered, their swimfins taken to be used by Gibraltar's guard divers (Sydney Knowles and Commander Lionel Crabb). This was the first known British frogman use of swimfins.
In 1944 November, following surrender of Italian forces an Italian frogman brought two Decima Flottiglia issue oxygen rebreathers, to Livorno, for the Allies to use. This equipment proved better than the Davis Apparatus and lasted longer on a dive he also brought a 2-piece frogman's drysuit. After the war and until the 1990s divers used the Siebe Gorman rebreather[6][7] and aqualung.
The Royal Navy's diving branch is made up of a number of diving teams and clearance diving elements, that serve aboard mine hunters. The core of the "branch", as it is referred to by its members is made up of the following land-based diving units:
- Southern Diving Units 1 and 2 and Northern Diving group.
These units provide 24/7 domestic bomb and mine disposal and IED disposal cover. SDU1 covers the South West of the UK. SDU2 covers the South East of the UK, and Northern diving group covers the North, including Scotland and Northern Ireland.
- Fleet Diving Group (FDU), made up of Diving Units 1, 2 and 3, requires new members to undergo further training depending on the specialisation of the unit.
- FDU1 provides an elite team of Clearance Divers that works alongside UK Special Forces (UKSF). New members are trained in Parachuting, maritime counter-terrorism (MCT) tactics and SDV operations.[8]
- FDU2 comes under 3 Commando Brigade and specialises in Very Shallow Water (VSW) beach reconnaissance operations. New members to FDU2 receive further training in VSW operations tactics. Members of FDU2 train and work regularly with other specialist elements from the UK and foreign militaries.
- FDU3 are the deepwater warfare unit and specialise in dealing with modern enemy sea mines. FDU3 members will also regularly cross-train with FDU2 and receive the same additional training as their team 2 colleagues.
Clearance divers have been involved in every major British conflict since their inception and have most recently deployed teams to Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. They have units operating permanently in the Middle East and have provided an underwater Force Protection (UWFP) element since the September 11 attacks. [citation needed]
Training to become a Clearance Diver lasts around 7 months. Before trainees are accepted onto a course, they must pass a week-long diving aptitude selection, held at the Defence Diving School, on Horsea Island, Portsmouth. This selection involves passing the Divers Physical Fitness Test (DPFT) on day one. The rest of the week then involves tests of physical and mental endurance and surface swimming. The candidates are also introduced to the Royal Navy's Swimmers Air Breathing Apparatus (SABA) set and complete dives in Horsea lake, including night dives. Due to the physical and mental pressures brought on by military diving, the failure rate has been historically high. Owing to this, there is a three-day Pre Entry Diving Acquaint (PEDA), which allowed prospective candidates to undergo physical and mental tests to give them a better idea of the training.
With recent changes, Fleet Diving Squadron now consists of Northern, and Southern Diving Groups, the Tactical Diving Group (TDG) and the Expeditionary Diving Group (EDG). Both groups have absorbed the specialisms of the former Fleet Diving Units.
See also
- United States military divers – Underwater divers employed by the US armed forces
- Navy diver (United States Navy) – US Navy personnel qualified in underwater diving and salvage
- Underwater Construction Teams – Navy construction battalion underwater construction units
- Explosive ordnance disposal (United States Navy) – US Navy personnel who render safe or detonate unexploded ordnance
- Frogman – Tactical scuba diver
References
- ^ Australian clearance divers tasks include rendering and safe disposal of conventional ordnance and improvised explosive devices.
- ^ https://www.lemonde.fr/campus/article/2016/12/11/plongeurs-demineurs-l-elite-des-grands-fonds_5047083_4401467.html
- ^ https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2017/03/29/2545812-phase-tests-entrer-parmi-elite-plongeurs-combats-genie.html
- ^ http://www.mcdoa.org.uk/RN_Clearance_Diving_Branch.htm
- ^ pp 16-20, issue 41, Historical Diving Times.ISSN 1368-0390
- ^ Quick, D. (1970). "A History Of Closed Circuit Oxygen Underwater Breathing Apparatus". Royal Australian Navy, School of Underwater Medicine. RANSUM-1-70. Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
- ^ Goble, Steve (2003). "Rebreathers". South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal. 33 (2): 98–102. Archived from the original on 2009-08-08. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
- ^ Elite UK Forces - Fleet Diving Units
