NAVY NEWS, FEBRUARY 2011 toughest course Training.


They are taught to operate three sets of diving equipment, starting with the SABA (Swimmers’ Air Breathing Apparatus), which goes to a depth of 30 metres, and progressing to the Open Space Diving System, for depths of down to 50 metres, and the Clearance Divers’ Life Support Equipment, a mixed gas system used for the really deep dives of 60 metres. It’s a demanding course with a drop-out rate of about 25 per cent.


Specialised and highly-technical classroom training is alternated with bouts of exercise to keep the divers alert and used to working when they are overwhelmingly tired – a realistic foretaste of what they can expect when they are doing it for real. One of the ways of keeping the trainee divers on their toes is the shout of ‘AWKWARD!’ – at sea it is a recognised term to muster the team when the ship has been attacked by underwater swimmers.


At the school it is used as a quick-dress routine, sometimes almost daily. The trainees have to stop whatever they are doing, rush to the lake’s edge and into their wetsuits, and jump into the water. In the winter the water is


freezing, in a hot summer the frequent circuits around the lake in wetsuits can be extremely tiring. It’s easy to see why physical fitness is crucial.


Cdr Russell said: “Our young


divers want to attain a goal, and we make it quite difficult for them to attain it.


“They need huge determination,


and it’s quite difficult to maintain that when it’s 2am, it’s minus two degrees on the surface, you’ve been under the water for an hour, and you come straight back up recharge your set and get back in the water.


He added: “You have to really


want to be part of this team, and push yourself, physically and mentally, to join it. “Everyone’s fit, there are very few colds, or ailments.” The enthusiasm for


‘phys’


makes the school an enjoyable posting for the PTIs – it’s one of those units where everyone shares their enthusiasm. LPT Pete Sapey (pictured top


left), who joined the school last May, said: “This is one of the fittest units I’ve ever worked in. “I knew what divers were like because I’d worked in ships, but I didn’t realise how good the school would be.


“The divers are working


underwater for long periods with heavy hydraulics, and they’re required to be in good condition all year round. “Everyone supports PT and adventurous training, and everyone’s up for sport and phys. I think it’s the best job I’ve ever had as an LPT.” He added: “When I first got the draft I wasn’t too sure what it would entail, but I soon realised it’s more than taking wet circuits and phys with the divers – it’s also integrating the school into the regional sports teams.” In the last year the school has shone at boxing, squash, rowing and a cliff and chasm competition,


a gruelling race with a heavy barrel around a series of obstacles. One reason it has such a good sporting record is that it can enter mixed Army and Navy teams for events. Although it is a Navy establishment, part of the Maritime Warfare School at HMS Collingwood, it trains 200 Army and Navy divers a year. In fact the development of


military diving owes more to the Army than the Navy, as the father of military diving (whose portrait has pride of place on the staircase at the diving school) was a Royal Engineer, Gen Sir Charles William Pasley.


As Col Pasley, he became the


first Service diver when he tested ‘Mr Kemp’s Diving Equipment’ in 1838.


He trained his men to use it, sending them to demolish a wreck obstructing the Thames at Tilbury. Within a short time divers of


the Royal Sappers and Miners managed to lay underwater explosives and clear the remains. Encouraged by this success, Col


Pasley turned his attentions to the wreck of the Royal George at Spithead, bringing some valuable salvage to the surface, and so the tradition of military diving began. In the 1880s the Royal


Engineers built the torpedo test range at Horsea Island on behalf of the Admiralty. After the World War 2 it became the diving lake, 1,115 yards long, 30ft deep in parts and stocked with submerged vehicles, a helicopter and wreck for the divers to train on.


Horsea Island is also the HQ of the Superintendent of Diving, an RN commander who is responsible for the overall safety and standards of diving in both the Royal Navy and Royal Engineers, and home to the Fleet Diving Squadron, responsible for diving, underwater engineering and bomb disposal in the UK and overseas.


So there is a sense of history coming full circle at Horsea Island, where the two Services have joined forces again at the Defence Diving School. Command alternates between


a Royal Navy commander and a Royal Engineers lieutenant colonel and although it is a joint school, the


Army and Navy courses


are run separately because the Services require different skills. The principal task of an Army


diver is to provide underwater combat engineering skills for the Field


Army, particularly


supporting the Royal Engineers in building bridges. Army divers are trained to


operate in lakes and rivers, where the soldiers learn fast-water skills, and they do not use the mixed gas kits which Navy divers use for deep-sea diving. Navy divers train in the Solent, working with tides and sea conditions. Only one Navy instructor so far has crossed over to teach the Army trainees, and become the first to qualify in fast-water training. Keith “Milky’ Lister, said:


“There’s always been a bit of a divide between the Army and Navy as far as training goes, so working with the Army has given me the opportunity of finding out what the other side does. “The Army do more engineering


than we do, and it’s given me the opportunity to work in fast water. But we use the same equipment – and we understand the same banter.” Troop commander Richard


Lawrence said: “I joined the Royal Engineers because I wanted to dive. Why didn’t I join the Navy? I didn’t want to live in a tin can in the middle of the ocean.” Some divers take Army–Navy


integration a step further. The appropriately-named


AB Jack Muddiman, 22, from Cornwall, currently on the AB Diver course, spent six years in the Coldstream Guards before he ‘saw the light’ as his naval instructors quipped, and crossed Services. “Working with the Navy hasn’t been too much of a shock, as members of my family have been in the Marines for years,” he said. “It’s a very enjoyable course – tough, but well worth it.”


Pictures: K Woodland


Army divers tend to be older than their Navy counterparts, as there are no direct entrants. They apply after serving for a couple of years in the Royal Engineers. The Navy takes direct entrants, so trainees as young as 18 (the lower age limit; the upper is 36) can attend the Able Seaman Diver course. Women are now eligible to train as clearance divers and (as Navy News reported in December) Lt Catherine Ker became the first female clearance diver when she qualified last November. The branch also attracts civilian divers, either amateur or professional. ABs Peter Collins, 20, and Tom Hilder were both divers in the civilian world and decided to make a career of it. “ It’s definitely a different form of diving from anything you do in the outside world,” said AB Collins.


AB Hilder added: “I always


wanted to join the Navy as I had been a sports diver, and this


21


seemed a natural progression. It’s demanding but very rewarding as well.” WO1 Graham Haran, has been


an instructor at the school for two- and-a-half years, and runs all the AB and PO courses. He said: “I was in the Sea Cadets in Bradford and joined the Navy. I liked the idea of diving, and when I tried it, I loved it from the beginning.” He added: “The great things about diving is that you have a lot of responsibility, and every day is different.”


Clearance diving is not a job with wide appeal. You’d have to love it to pass the course – and everyone at the Defence Diving School seems to love it. Cdr Russell said: “Our training is distilled from hundreds of years of experience in the best practices. What we have is the best product. “People here love their job and


everyone has a smile on their face. There is a feeling of happiness at the school and it’s infectious.”


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