Day in the life of a Clearance Diver

[The Southerner]

I've been to the AFCO a few times and chatted about both the RM and RN (clearance diver), but with the latter they didn't have any serving or former shark wrestlers that I could speak to, so I thought I'd try on here instead.

As a clearance diver, where would you normally find yourself and what would you be doing? I know that ordnance disposal is the bread-and-butter work but does this mean you're usually in UK waters dealing with WW2 mines or can you be assigned to a ship and travel around? The guy at the AFCO said that ship's divers didn't exist any more because "they'd had problems with new equipment and they kept dying"! (I asked if he was talking about rebreathers but he wasn't sure).

[duggers19]

Hey mate I'm joining the Navy as a diver, i've got my aquaint course this month. Other roles that an RN diver carries out include:

Bomb disposal

Underwater engineering tasks e.g propeller blade removel, cleaning ships hull etc.

Beach reconnasisence.

Underwater searches.

After diver training you will be drafted to a mine hunter for about 2 years, mine hunters often travel around the UK, mediterannean and around the north of europe. If you join one of the fleet diving teams, you'll travel all over the world.




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[The Southerner]

Thanks for the reply, very useful stuff

What would you be doing as a fleet diver? Do you alwaysget assigned to a mine hunter for the first 2 years or can you be a fleet diver from the off?

[duggers19]

Yes every diver is assigned to a minehunter for the first 2 years, this is so that you can put your training into practice, and gives you some experience.

There are 3 fleet diving squadrens go on:

www.royal.navy.mod.co.uk and click on fleet diving squadrens, that will give all the info you need about each squadren.

Anything else you want to no mate?

kind regards.

[duggers19]

A word advice start working on your fitness, because you get a thrashing by the PTI's and diving staff.

GOOD LUCK!!!

[harry hackedoff]

Do you dive Duggers?
Have you tried diving?
Diving at night in pitch black water just above zero is fantastic
Just as long as you ain`t claustrophobic
Clearence Divers are viewed on a par with SF in OZ and the US because of the beach recce role etc.

[duggers19]

Yes I do dive it's a great experience, been in a few unexepected predicuments but got threw them ok. I'm very excited babout joining the navy as a diver.

[The Southerner]

Thanks again Duggers. I thought I'd read just about everything on the RN site but I'd somehow missed the section on the FDUs. It sounds like exciting stuff.

I'm a recreational diver only at the moment, but have been thinking more and more about doing it professionally. For me the only worthwhile career in diving would be a military one.

[duggers19]

Make sure yor very fit, I am a recerational diver but i'v stil not passed my theory exam i keep failin 4 sum reason

[duggers19]

The Fleet Diving Group is based in Portsmouth and consists of three highly specialised and mobile diving units. They provide a worldwide capability to support mine countermeasures and amphibious operations, as well as having a land bomb disposal role for deployment overseas. Specialist skills within this group include parachuting, long range diver insertions, very shallow water mine countermeasures, conventional ordnance disposal and deep Mine Countermeasures (MCM) diving

Fleet Diving Unit 1 (FDU1) consists of a group of specialist personnel kept at a very high degree of readiness. Individuals are highly trained and qualified in parachute insertion techniques. The unit has a submarine search and rescue role and also assists in the Operational Sea Training of the surface and submarine fleets.

FDU 2 specialises in Very Shallow Water VSW MCM diving and is proficient in beach surveying techniques as a precursor to any amphibious operation. Recent advances in technology have speeded up this laborious process considerably and the unit is at the forefront of developing cutting edge procedures in this field.

FDU 3 have a special responsibility for deep MCM diving. Personnel are trained to dive down to 80 metres in order to identify and dispose of sea mines during MCM operations. Both FDU 2 and FDU 3 are deployable Worldwide in support of Royal Navy operations and have been involved in numerous tasks in each of their respective specialist areas.

A recent development in the role of the Fleet Diving Group is an increased responsibility for Underwater Force Protection (UWFP). UWFP involves the searching of ships' hulls as well as ports and jetties in order to counter the underwater terrorist threat. The FDG provides support for the Royal Navy around the World in this capacity

[Breathingbrick]

Ive got to do the fitness test again as I didnt eat properly before and my test was stopped because I went dizzy. The aquaint sounds painful . But im sure its fun once passed.

[duggers19]

Hey mate sorry to hear about you failing the fit test. The acquaint course is tough but enjoyable

[adcrabtree]

hey i have been reading what you have been putting and it has been very useful thanks jst wondering what sort of things do they do with you whilst you are down there doing your divers acquaintance

[varsity]

Hi all.

Very good to see this thread because I was about to post something very similar myself.

Im looking into joining the Navy as a diver. Im looking for 2 bits of info if possible..

1) Will my diving experience help my application? Ive got my open water diving cert already and have 50+ dives under my belt in alot of different conditions. How competitive are these placements?

2) Fitness, how fit are we talking here? I keep myself fairly fit as is, though im sure I will need to train for this role. What sort of tests do you need to do?

If anyone has some info like "They make you run X then lift X and Y for K amount of time" it would be great. That way I know what im aiming at. The net and Navy Careers office has been a bit vague on all this.

[AC]

Stating that you have prior diving experience will help your application in the careers office. Placements are competitive, getting to Raleigh for basic training is one thing, however, getting a place on course is a different kettle of fish entirely and failure rates are high.

You shouldn't be looking at fitness as a means of simply meeting requirements. If you want to get on course you need to exceed the requirements. The Divers Personal Fitness Test standards are:

1.5 Mile run as a squad - 15 minutes
1.5 Mile run best personal effort - Max 10:30, Aim for sub-9:00.
Chin-Ups (Palms towards you) - 8, Aim for 12+
Dips - 16, Aim for 20+
Sit-Ups - 40 in 2 minutes

Make sure you can do all that easily, then your best bet is to train for stamina rather than strength. The bulkier lads are always slower in the water and when running in a drysuit. Triathlon training would give you a pretty good edge, if you already dive and have a drysuit, get some cheap jet fins off ebay and get yourself in the water.