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A Clearance Diver was originally a specialist naval diver
Underwater diving

Underwater diving is the practice of going underwater Scuba diving or without breathing apparatus.Recreational diving is a popular activity ....
 who used explosives underwater
Underwater

Underwater is a term describing the realm below the surface of water where the water exists in a natural feature such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, or river....
 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 trap
Booby trap

A booby trap is a device set up to be triggered by an unsuspecting victim. As the word trap implies, they often have some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it....
s laid by the Germans.

The first units were Royal Navy
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
 Mine and Bomb Disposal Units
Bomb disposal

Bomb disposal is the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. "Bomb disposal" is an all encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the following fields:...
.






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A Clearance Diver was originally a specialist naval diver
Underwater diving

Underwater diving is the practice of going underwater Scuba diving or without breathing apparatus.Recreational diving is a popular activity ....
 who used explosives underwater
Underwater

Underwater is a term describing the realm below the surface of water where the water exists in a natural feature such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, or river....
 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 trap
Booby trap

A booby trap is a device set up to be triggered by an unsuspecting victim. As the word trap implies, they often have some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it....
s laid by the Germans.

The first units were Royal Navy
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
 Mine and Bomb Disposal Units
Bomb disposal

Bomb disposal is the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. "Bomb disposal" is an all encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the following fields:...
. 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
Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, also known as the Commonwealth or the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organization of fifty-three independent member states....
 and European allied forces were in operation by 1945.

Naval work diver training is much longer and harder than sport diver training and has much stricter entry requirements
Frogman

A frogman is someone who is trained to dive or swim in a military capacity which can include combat. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver or combat swimmer....
.

For a long time navies used the old-type heavy standard diving dress
Standard diving dress

A standard diving dress consists of a metallic diving helmet, an airline or air hose from a surface supplied diving air diving pump, a canvas diving suit, diving knife and boots....
 when work needed doing underwater. During and after World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 some of them started using frogman
Frogman

A frogman is someone who is trained to dive or swim in a military capacity which can include combat. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver or combat swimmer....
-type gear when frogman's kit became available
Frogman

A frogman is someone who is trained to dive or swim in a military capacity which can include combat. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver or combat swimmer....
. Later they started often using open-circuit scuba gear for work diving.

In some navies including Britain's, work divers must have a line and a linesman when possible.

Nations with naval work diving groups


Australia

The Royal Australian Navy's
Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the navy of the Australian Defence Force. Established in 1901, the RAN was formed out of the Commonwealth Naval Forces to become the small navy of Australia after federation, consisting of the former colonial navies of the new Australian states....
 Clearance Diving Teams (CDTs) also serve as combat divers
Frogman

A frogman is someone who is trained to dive or swim in a military capacity which can include combat. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver or combat swimmer....
.

Britain

British Royal Navy
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
 naval work divers are officially called Clearance Divers.

During WWII
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 they at first often used the Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus
Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus

The Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus , was an early type of oxygen rebreather invented in 1910 by Robert Davis , head of Siebe Gorman, inspired by the earlier Fleuss system....
 and no diving suit, and no swimfins and they swam by breast stroke.

  • 1942 December 17: (ref. Decima Flottiglia MAS#1942
    Decima Flottiglia MAS

    The Decima Flottiglia MAS was an Italy commando frogman unit of the Regia Marina created during the Italian fascism regime.The acronym MAS also refers to various light torpedo boats used by the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II....
    ): 6 Italians on three manned torpedoes attacked Gibraltar
    Gibraltar

    Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar. The territory shares a border with Spain to the north....
     harbor. A British patrol boat killed one torpedo's crew (Lt. Visintini and Petty Officer Magro) with a depth charge
    Depth charge

    The depth charge is an anti-submarine weapon intended to defeat its target by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a Fuse_%28explosives%29#Munition_fuzes set to go off at a predetermined depth....
    . Their bodies were recovered, and their swimfin
    Swimfin

    Swimfins, swim fins, shinfin fins or flippers are worn on the foot or leg and made from finlike rubber or plastic, to aid movement through the water in Water sport activities such as swimming, bodyboarding, bodysurfing, kneeboarding , riverboarding, and various types of underwater diving....
    s were taken and used by two of Gibraltar's British guard divers (who dived with Davis Escape Sets and (up to here) breast stroke swimming and no fins) (Sydney Knowles
    Sydney Knowles

    Sydney Knowles was a British frogman in and after World War II.He was one of a group of underwater guard divers who checked for limpet mines in Gibraltar harbor during the period of Decima Flottiglia MAS#Chronicle of Operations....
     and Commander Lionel Crabb
    Lionel Crabb

    For the American actor, see Buster CrabbeLionel "Buster" Crabb Order of the British Empire, George Medal was a United Kingdom Royal Navy frogman who Missing person during a reconnaissance mission around a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics cruiser in 1956....
    ). This was the first known British frogman use of swimfin
    Swimfin

    Swimfins, swim fins, shinfin fins or flippers are worn on the foot or leg and made from finlike rubber or plastic, to aid movement through the water in Water sport activities such as swimming, bodyboarding, bodysurfing, kneeboarding , riverboarding, and various types of underwater diving....
    s, rather than a Sladen suit
    Sladen Suit

    The Sladen Suit was a heavy type of British divers' drysuit made by Siebe Gorman. It is entered by a wide rubber tube at the umbilicus: this tube is folded and tied off before the diver dives....
     and weighted boots riding a Chariot.


  • 1944 November: In Livorno
    Livorno

    Livorno or Leghorn is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the Capital of the Province of Livorno and the third-largest port on the western coast of Italy, having a population of approximately 170,000 residents as of the year 2007....
     in Italy an Italian frogman called Vago came over and joined them and brought them two Decima Flottiglia MAS
    Decima Flottiglia MAS

    The Decima Flottiglia MAS was an Italy commando frogman unit of the Regia Marina created during the Italian fascism regime.The acronym MAS also refers to various light torpedo boats used by the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II....
     issue oxygen rebreather
    Rebreather

    A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuit breathing set for the same duration in environments where humans cannot safely breathe from the atmosphere....
    s, which proved better in use than Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus
    Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus

    The Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus , was an early type of oxygen rebreather invented in 1910 by Robert Davis , head of Siebe Gorman, inspired by the earlier Fleuss system....
    es and lasting longer on a dive. He also brought them an Italian light 2-piece frogman's drysuit: before then they dived with their skin exposed.


For a long time they usually used the Siebe Gorman CDBA
Siebe Gorman CDBA

The Clearance Divers Breathing Apparatus is a type of rebreather made by Siebe Gorman in England.The Royal Navy used it for many years. It was for underwater work rather than for combat diving....
 rebreather
Rebreather

A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuit breathing set for the same duration in environments where humans cannot safely breathe from the atmosphere....
.

In the 1990s they used a type of automatic mixture rebreather
Rebreather

A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuit breathing set for the same duration in environments where humans cannot safely breathe from the atmosphere....
 which is so heavy that on surfacing after a dive even a very physically fit naval diver preferred to remove the rebreather while still in the water and have it crane
Crane (machine)

A crane is a lifting machine equipped with a winder , wire ropes or chains and Sheave that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally....
d out separately.

Other combinations of kit used in the past by British work divers were:-
  • Sladen suit
    Sladen Suit

    The Sladen Suit was a heavy type of British divers' drysuit made by Siebe Gorman. It is entered by a wide rubber tube at the umbilicus: this tube is folded and tied off before the diver dives....
     and weighted boots and Siebe Gorman Salvus
    Siebe Gorman Salvus

    The Salvus is a light oxygen rebreather for SCBA or in shallow Scuba diving. Its duration on a filling is 30 to 40 minutes. It was very common in Britain during World War II and for a long time afterwards....
    .
  • Sladen suit
    Sladen Suit

    The Sladen Suit was a heavy type of British divers' drysuit made by Siebe Gorman. It is entered by a wide rubber tube at the umbilicus: this tube is folded and tied off before the diver dives....
     and weighted boots and aqualung
    Aqualung

    Aqualung may refer to:* Aqua-lung, a type of diving equipment* Aqua Lung America, a US company that makes diving equipment* Aqualung , a 1971 album by Jethro Tull...
    . According to a 1950s British naval diving manual, this was the only approved way to use the aqualung.


See http://www.mcdoa.org.uk/RN_Clearance_Diving_Branch.htm .

Canada

See Canadian armed forces divers
Canadian armed forces divers

Canada's armed forces have frogman and clearance divers....


Estonia

EOD Tuukrigrupp - EOD Clearance Diver UNIT

France

France's Clearance Divers are called the Plongeurs Démineurs (link in French).

Germany

Minentaucher
Minentaucher

Minentaucher are particularly trained military divers of the German Navy. Their operational areas are:-*Searching, identifying, and removing or salvaging underwater weapons such as naval mine or explosives in the water....
 is Germany's Clearance Diver force.

Norway

Norway's naval work divers and Clearance Diver force is called Minedykkerkommandoen
Minedykkerkommandoen

Minedykkerkommandoen is Norway's clearance diver group. It is a branch of the Norwegian naval defenses specializing in explosive ordnance disposal....
 = "the mine
Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of or contact with an enemy ship....
 diver command".

Sweden

Sweden
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
 has had a clearance diver division since 1952.

USA

See Underwater Demolition Team
Underwater Demolition Team

Underwater Demolition Teams were a precursor to the current United States Navy SEALs. The UDT's conducted beach and hydrographic reconnaissance, explosive cable and net cutting, explosive destruction of underwater obstacles to enable major amphibious landings, Naval mine#Limpet mines attacks, submarine operations, and the locating and markin...
 - US Navy, 1943 -1967