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 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. During World War II Navies used the heavy surface-supplied standard diving dress before changing to lighter self-contained rebreather equipment.[ citation needed ]
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2021) |
Admission to clearance diver training requires the candidate to pass medical and physical fitness screening and to be a member of the relevant military force. [1]
| | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2021) |
The scope of activity for a clearance diver varies depending on the specific armed force in which they are a member, but historically the most defining competence is skills in underwater demolition using explosives. The closely associated skills in explosive ordnance disposal are also generally implied by the designation.
| | This section needs expansionwith: What does a clearance diver do?. You can help by adding to it. (December 2021) |
| | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2021) |
Royal Navy divers are officially called Clearance Divers. [9] During WWII divers used the Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus (DSEA), no wetsuit or swimfins. [10] On 17 December 1942, six Italian divers (of Decima Flottiglia MAS ) on three manned torpedoes attacked Gibraltar harbour. A British patrol boat killed the crew of one with a depth charge. Their bodies were recovered and their swimfins later used by Gibraltar's guard divers (Sydney Knowles and Commander Lionel Crabb). This was the first known British use of swimfins.[ citation needed ]
In November 1944, following surrender of Italian forces an Italian frogman brought two Decima Flottiglia issue oxygen rebreathers and a two-piece frogman's drysuit to Livorno, for the Allies to use. This equipment proved better than the Davis Apparatus and lasted longer on a dive. After the war and until the 1990s divers used the Siebe Gorman rebreather [11] [12] and aqualung.[ citation needed ]
Training to become a Clearance Diver takes 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), tests of physical and mental endurance and surface swimming. The candidates are also introduced to the Royal Navy's Swimmers Air Breathing Apparatus and dive in Horsea lake, including night dives. Historically, the failure rate has been high due to the physical and psychological pressures of military diving, so there is a three-day Pre Entry Diving Acquaint (PEDA), which allows prospective candidates to undergo physical and mental tests to give them a better idea of what to expect of the training.[ citation needed ]
The diving branch is formed of teams, that serve aboard mine hunters, perform domestic bomb, mine and IED disposal and the two Fleet Diving Groups (FDG).
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 in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean providing an underwater force protection (UWFP) element. See Operation Kipion .[ citation needed ]
From 2022 Royal Navy Divers will come under the Diving & Threat Exploitation Group (DTXG) based in Portsmouth, Plymouth and Faslane. It comprises:
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.
The Clearance Diving Branch is the specialist diving unit of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) whose versatile role covers all spheres of military diving, and includes explosive ordnance disposal and maritime counter-terrorism. The Branch has evolved from traditional maritime diving, and explosive ordnance disposal, to include a special operations focus.
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.
United States Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians render safe all types of ordnance, including improvised, chemical, biological, and nuclear. They perform land and underwater location, identification, render-safe, and recovery of foreign and domestic ordnance. They conduct demolition of hazardous munitions, pyrotechnics, and retrograde explosives using detonation and burning techniques. They forward deploy and fully integrate with the various Combatant Commanders, Special Operations Forces (SOF), and various warfare units within the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Army. They are also called upon to support military and civilian law enforcement agencies, as well as the Secret Service.
Underwater demolition is the deliberate destruction or neutralization of man-made or natural underwater obstacles, both for military and civilian purposes.
The Russian commando frogmen, informally called "commando frogmen" in civilian media, are a Russian Naval Spetsnaz unit under operational subordination to the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU). It is the special forces unit of the Russian Naval Infantry and is composed of highly trained and elite marines within the Naval Infantry. By virtue of belonging to the Russian Naval Infantry, frogmen fall under the Coastal Troops of the Russian Navy service arm. The Russian Navy proper does not field any special forces or special operations units. Russian FSB special forces Alpha Group and Vympel also have frogman units in their respective naval components.
Defenses against swimmer incursions are security methods developed to protect watercraft, ports and installations, and other sensitive resources in or near vulnerable waterways from potential threats or intrusions by swimmers or scuba divers.
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.
Minentaucher is the German term for mine clearance divers. The Minentaucherkompanie is a specialist unit within the German Navy responsible for underwater and Land tasks including removing or salvaging underwater munitions such as mines and for servicing underwater drones. It is part of the Sea Battalion and is based in Eckernförde.
Sydney Knowles, BEM, was a British Royal Navy frogman during and after World War II.
The Divers Group is the Portuguese Navy's sapper clearance diver unit. It was created in 2004 through the grouping of the several already existing diving subunits, to exercise administrative, logistical and operational control and management, maritime special operations capable, over all diver units and personnel. It groups under a single command, all previously existing Sappers Divers Units and Services.
Lieutenant-Commander Lionel Kenneth Phillip Crabb,, known as Buster Crabb, was a Royal Navy frogman and diver who vanished during a reconnaissance mission for MI6 around a Soviet cruiser berthed at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1956.
Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) divers are specialists trained to conduct underwater operations within their respective environmental commands. Divers within the CAF are qualified into sub-categories of diving. Be it a member of a diving team or a CAF member who is maintaining currency and qualification through casual diving. Divers within the CAF are trained as Clearance Divers, Search and Rescue Technicians (SAR), Port Inspection Divers (PID), Ship's Team Divers, and Combat Divers.
The US employs divers in several branches of the armed forces, including the navy, army, marines, air force and coast guard.
Naval Special Forces Command, also called the Kampfschwimmer or Verwendungsgruppe 3402 are an elite special forces unit of the German Navy, specializing in commando and amphibious warfare operations. They are the only special-purpose force of the German Navy. The Kampfschwimmer were set up when West Germany joined NATO in 1955.
The Naval Service Diving Section (NSDS) is a specialist unit of the Irish Naval Service, a branch of the Defence Forces, the military of Ireland. The Naval Service Diving Section specialises in underwater diving tasks for the Naval Service, and since its formation in the early 1960s has become Ireland's most advanced diving team, aiding other state agencies in various specialist roles.
The Swedish Navy EOD are the clearance divers of the Swedish Navy. They are tasked with conducting with underwater Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) as well as EOD operations on land. The training is very physically and mentally challenging which is why meticulous tests are done before selection.
The United States Navy Center for Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Diving (CENEODDIVE) is one of the eleven learning centers responsible for training explosive ordnance disposal technicians and divers in the United States. CENEODDIVE is stationed on Naval Support Activity Panama City (NSA PC) in Florida and forms a part of the Naval Education and Training Command. With the exception of the Great Lakes learning site, CENEODDIVE is the only inter-service learning center.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link){{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
