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Ship's diver was a diving qualification in the Royal Navy. Personnel of this rank would be stationed aboard ships to assist repairs, recover resources and property from shallow water, and perform rescue missions on those trapped underwater. [1]
The qualification and selection process for Royal Navy ship Divers is, as of 2005:
One must be selected by passing their own nation's Divers selection test and have completed certification in a separate Diving Course or Fit to Dive certificate. [2] They must pass a physical fitness test that consists of completing a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) run in 10 mins 30 seconds, as well as 8 chin-ups, 16 dips and 40 sit-ups consecutively without a break. Recruits must be a minimum of 19 years of age. [2]
Later in their careers, some Ship's Divers undertake further training in order to qualify as Search and Rescue Helicopter crew. As well as general SAR duties they are also trained to jump from Helicopters in order to rescue aircrew of fixed wing aircraft should it ditch on takeoff from an Aircraft Carrier. [1]
Ships' Divers were to disappear entirely from the Royal Navy in 2006, to be replaced by clearance diving teams that now accompany deployment groups. All Ships Diver training stopped on 1 October 2005.
A divemaster (DM) is a role that includes organising and leading recreational dives, particularly in a professional capacity, and is a qualification used in many parts of the world in recreational scuba diving for a diver who has supervisory responsibility for a group of divers and as a dive guide. As well as being a generic term, 'Divemaster' is the title of the first professional rating of many training agencies, such as PADI, SSI, SDI, NASE, except NAUI, which rates a NAUI Divemaster under a NAUI Instructor but above a NAUI Assistant Instructor. The divemaster certification is generally equivalent to the requirements of ISO 24801-3 Dive Leader.
A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater in a tactical capacity that includes military, and in some European countries, police work. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver, combatant diver, or combat swimmer. The word frogman first arose in the stage name the "Fearless Frogman" of Paul Boyton in the 1870s and later was claimed by John Spence, an enlisted member of the U.S. Navy and member of the OSS Maritime Unit, to have been applied to him while he was training in a green waterproof suit.
Professional diving is underwater diving where the divers are paid for their work. Occupational diving has a similar meaning and applications. The procedures are often regulated by legislation and codes of practice as it is an inherently hazardous occupation and the diver works as a member of a team. Due to the dangerous nature of some professional diving operations, specialized equipment such as an on-site hyperbaric chamber and diver-to-surface communication system is often required by law, and the mode of diving for some applications may be regulated.
Commercial diving may be considered an application of professional diving where the diver engages in underwater work for industrial, construction, engineering, maintenance or other commercial purposes which are similar to work done out of the water, and where the diving is usually secondary to the work.
Police diving is a branch of professional diving carried out by police services. Police divers are usually professional police officers, and may either be employed full-time as divers or as general water police officers, or be volunteers who usually serve in other units but are called in if their diving services are required.
Underwater divers may be employed in any branch of an armed force, including the navy, army, marines, air force and coast guard. Scope of operations includes: search and recovery, search and rescue, hydrographic survey, explosive ordnance disposal, demolition, underwater engineering, salvage, ships husbandry, reconnaissance, infiltration, sabotage, counterifiltration, underwater combat and security.
The Naval Diving Unit (NDU), also referred to as the Naval Divers, is the special forces formation of the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) responsible for conducting special operations from sea, air, and land. The formation is made up of six squadrons, specialising in explosive ordnance disposal, underwater demolition, maritime security operations, and combatant craft operations.
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 the term "clearance diver" was later used to include other naval underwater work. Units of clearance divers were first formed during and after World War II to clear ports and harbours in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe of unexploded ordnance and shipwrecks and booby traps laid by the Germans.
The Kopaska is the premier frogman and underwater demolition unit of the Indonesian Navy. The unit's motto is Tan Hana Wighna Tan Sirna. The unit's main duties are underwater demolition, destroying main underwater installations, reconnaissance, prisoner snatches, preparing beaches for larger naval amphibious operations, and counter-terrorism. During peacetime, the unit also deploys a team to serve as security personnel for VIPs and VVIPs. The personnel of Kopaska are recruited from Indonesian Navy seamen. Like other Indonesian special forces, Kopaska is trained to be able to conduct operations in the sea, including underwater, on land and airborne.
A United States Navy diver may be a restricted fleet line officer, Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) officer, Medical Corps officer, an Unrestricted Line Officer who is qualified in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Warfare (1140) or an enlisted who is qualified in underwater diving and salvage. Navy divers serve with fleet diving detachments and in research and development. Some of the mission areas of the Navy diver include: marine salvage, harbor clearance, underwater ship husbandry and repair, submarine rescue, saturation diving, experimental diving, underwater construction and welding, as well as serving as technical experts to the Navy SEALs, Marine Corps, and Navy EOD diving commands.
Rescue swimmer is a qualification given to rescue specialists, most commonly in the service of the military. Rescue swimmers usually are charged with the rescue, assessment, and rendering of medical aid to persons in distress in the sea, on the land, or in the air. This highly specialized position is extremely challenging.
Minedykkerkommandoen (MDK) or Norwegian Naval EOD Command is a clearance diver group. MDK is subordinate to the Royal Norwegian Navy. MDK is located at Haakonsvern Naval Base in Bergen and Ramsund Naval Base, in vicinity of Harstad.
The US employs divers in several branches of the armed forces, including the navy, army, marines, air force and coast guard.
The Special Task and Rescue Team, abbreviated as STAR, serves as the command for elite maritime special operations and underwater divers within the Malaysia Coast Guard. It was established as a rapid reaction force for emergencies within the maritime zone of Malaysia.
The Naval Air Command Sub Aqua Club (NACSAC) was an organization within the Royal Navy that oversaw sports and technical diving training activities for naval aviation and fleet units. Today, it has branches at RNAS Culdrose (HMS Seahawk) and RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron). Both bases provide training, and club members regularly dive into their local areas on weekends. Diving instruction, from beginner to advanced level, is offered under the auspices of the British Sub-Aqua Club. In 2005, NACSAC was closed down as an organization in favour of the Royal Navy Sub Aqua Club, which is what Lieutenant Graham and CPO Larn had wanted from the outset of NACSAC, which was only given that title since HMS Vernon, the RN Diving School at Portsmouth would not support the idea of sport diving within the service.
Diver training is the set of processes through which a person learns the necessary and desirable skills to safely dive underwater within the scope of the diver training standard relevant to the specific training programme. Most diver training follows procedures and schedules laid down in the associated training standard, in a formal training programme, and includes relevant foundational knowledge of the underlying theory, including some basic physics, physiology and environmental information, practical skills training in the selection and safe use of the associated equipment in the specified underwater environment, and assessment of the required skills and knowledge deemed necessary by the certification agency to allow the newly certified diver to dive within the specified range of conditions at an acceptable level of risk. Recognition of prior learning is allowed in some training standards.
Army engineer divers are members of national armies who are trained to undertake tasks underwater, including reconnaissance, demolition, and salvage. These divers have similar skills and qualifications as professional divers. Army divers use both surface supplied "Hard hat" and SCUBA to perform their missions. In the United States Army, they are members of the Corps of Engineers. In the British Army, they may be Royal Engineer Divers or Commando Engineer Divers.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to underwater diving:
Recreational scuba certification levels are the levels of skill represented by recreational scuba certification. Each certification level is associated with a specific training standard published by the certification agency, and a training programme associated with the standard., though in some cases recognition of prior learning can apply. These levels of skill can be categorised in several ways: