HMS Middleton’s Divers Conduct Underwater Training (Gibraltar)

HMS Middleton's Divers Conduct Underwater Training (Gibraltar)

Divers from minehunter HMS Middleton swapped England’s south coast for the warm waters of Gibraltar for a week of high-tempo training. The five-strong team made full use of the facilities on the Rock, practising search techniques, helping stricken divers, lifting mines from the seabed and carrying out underwater repairs.

With their ship in dry dock in her home base of Portsmouth, the dive team decided that rather than kick their heels they could get in a week’s practice on the Rock – making use of its excellent facilities and Mediterranean waters to hone their skills across the full spectrum of diving operations.

The five-strong team – executive officer Lt Sam Jane, LD Duncan Watt and AB(D)s Dan Box, Tom Davies and Will Davis – made use of the facilities of the Gibraltar Clearance Diving Element, based on the harbour’s South Mole, just a minute or so from the open waters of the Med.

After a day going through kit checks and, safety briefs and the like and a practice dive on the wreck of the SS Rosslyn, which sank off the Rock in shallow waters in 1916, it was time for four days of fast-paced training: everything from search techniques and helping stricken divers, to lifting mines from the seabed and carrying out underwater repairs.

For the latter, the team use the Open Space Diving System – with air fed from the surface via an umbilical cord. It means the divers can remain under longer as they carry out repair work.

In this instance they had to cut away an underwater obstruction – aided by underwater camera with video capability and a pneumatic grinder to do the cutting.

Although it’s a powerful bit of kit, beneath the water’s surface the grinder acts a bit like a propeller so a second diver acts as back-up, leaning against his colleague’s back to keep him in position to cut safely and accurately.

While that was going on underwater, on the surface the rest of the divers were practising various emergency procedures such as changing the air supply and generally making sure everything was proceeding to plan.

The highlight of the Gib training was lifting a drill mine from the seabed using the ‘enclosed mine lifting bag’ – it looks like a large inflatable yellow submarine.

The method involves raising a suspected mine in one area, then moving it safely to another, quieter stretch of ocean, lowering it back to the seabed and finally disposing of it safely – a tried and tested method of dealing with historic or present-day mines.

And that was the training on the Rock completed, AB Box said;

“It was so beneficial for us. We could have sat around for a few days with our ship in maintenance, but we thought: let’s do something.

“More people should make use of Gibraltar. It’s really easy to use. Conditions are better, the water’s warmer. It’s great to get out there, get hands-on experience. It was a really, really good experience.”

The divers are part of Crew 3 and will soon be shifting from Middleton to her sister ship HMS Brocklesby, which will spend the rest of 2013 around UK waters carrying out route survey work and undergoing training.

Early next year they will decamp again, this time to one of the two Hunt-class ships permanently based in Bahrain as part of the latest rotation of minehunter crews in the Gulf.

[mappress]

Press Release, May 01, 2013