Clearance Diver
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Clearance Diving Teams are specialist units of naval divers that operate to deal with explosives underwater. The term Clearance Diving comes from the operations carried out during and after the Second World War to clear ports and harbours in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe of unexploded ordnance and booby traps laid by the Germans.
The first units were RN 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. Six parties including Commonwealth and European allied forces were in operation by 1945.
Modern Royal Navy Clearance Diver
The term Clearance Diver is used for a Royal Navy naval work diver. The name refers to their task of clearing away wreckage and mines.For a long time they usually used the Siebe Gorman CDBA rebreather. Nowadays they use a type of automatic mixture rebreather which is so heavy that on surfacing after a dive even a very physically fit naval diver prefers to remove the rebreather while still in the water and have it craned out separately.
See also
- Clearance Diving Team (RAN) - The Australian Navy Clearance Team
- Underwater Demolition Team - US Navy, 1943 -1967
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