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Military Diving and Combat Diving

Submitted by admin on 2009-01-09 | Last Modified on 2010-04-01

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Ever since the 40's when the first military divers appeared on the scene resembling amphibians, the name 'frogmen' was spawned and stuck. It has since branched off officially from a term of endearment into naming formal squad divisions of certain countries diving forces such as Denmark and Norway: "Fromandskorpset" and "Froskemanskorpset".

With experience rooted in their active war undertakings, the best combat divers are from Russia, Great Britain and the US. Training as a combat diver is not to be taken lightly and the drop-out rates are very high. Aside requiring the foundation of armed forces fitness levels, several weeks of fulltime training is needed.

General consensus is nine weeks Basic Training followed by 36 weeks of Advanced Individual. It is even said that certain naval diver trainees prefer not to accept entrants with previous scuba diving experience due to the ingrained casual attachments of sport diving and socializing in comparison to the devotion required to make the grade.

Military diving technically entails various divisions of tactical employments such as the Armed forces division, trained in explosives for sabotage and counter-sabotage missions such as planting, disposal and diffusion of bombs.

Amphibian assault teams of combat divers use tactical stealth force deployment aimed at land targets through beach entry points. They undertake dangerous underwater missions linked to anti terrorism, law enforcement and war-related assignments.

The Covert Surveillance and Retrieval - operations divisions concern themselves with the clandestine surveying of landing areas before amphibian missions are fully deployed.

They also deal with object recovery, monitor sonar echo's and planting underwater devices in enemy waters.

Combat SCUBA Gear

Military dive equipment needs to be tailored in accordance with factors such as the necessity of camouflage and streamlining (even at the risk of removing safety features and/or anything that can be grabbed a hold of during an altercation or snag on something during a quick getaway.) Dive duration and distance also needs to be taken into account.

The following briefly summarizes the differences in army combat gear requirements:

1. Breathing sets must adapt to the speed and distance required on the particular mission and should also be silent to avoid detection under all costs. Breathing tubes and projecting cables for grabbing and snagging must be eliminated as far as possible in the design, even if it means foregoing certain safety features.

2. Full face masks allow for the divers to communicate underwater and protect against coming off easily in the event that diver becomes unconscious or it gets knocked off during an altercation.

3. The Russian IDA71 military and naval rebreather is the prototype for most frogmen/combat divers commonly used due to its colour and design with regards to the necessary requirements. The rebreather has a span of four hours and when the diver reaches landing, water drains quickly from the equipment minimizing excess weight. Its external on/off control switch is not easily distinguishable and can be easily reached by the diver. Use of steel and iron should also be minimized to reduce magnetic sensor detection.

4.In cases where detection and distance plays a main factor, part of the necessary stealth employment tactics require a fully closed circuit rebreather reducing the risk of being detection from bubbles or the loud breathing sound of the intake valve. Open circuit breathing sets are also too bulky for the intense maneuvering tactics required by the frogman for combat, getaway and stealth operations.

5. Rugged non-foam suits reinforced with Kevlar preferably scratch and cut resistant are employed as well as bomb suits under the correct circumstances. Weaponry includes a standard issue knife, combat speargun, a Heckler & Koch P11 Underwater Pistol and Canadian Diemaco C7 and C8 assault rifles. As well as Russian issues: