Royal Navy Divers Clear Garvie Island UXO

Fifteen Royal Navy clearance divers from the Clyde-based Northern Diving Group (NDG) recently traveled to Cape Wrath in Scotland to tackle unexploded ordnance left over from military exercises.

The military training range at Cape Wrath is an important defence asset, a remote 107-square miles of moorland used to help armed forces practice vital skills used on the modern battlefield, Royal Navy explained.

Just off tip of the Cape is Garvie Island, a large granite rock, which RAF uses as a target for live fire training and, occasionally, a small number of bombs fail to detonate.

This year the Northern Diving Group, headed by NDG chief of staff lieutenant commander Castrinoyannakis and petty officer (diver) Gerry Mulholland, conducted some 98 dives in the waters surrounding Garvie Island. They destroyed two 1,000lb and one 500lb bombs.

Petty officer Mulholland said: “Under the sea, if a piece of ordnance is located, the diver safely marks the device with a float and returns later with an explosive charge to place on the bomb.”

“The bomb can then be detonated at a later time when all of the divers are out of the water and the team have moved to a safe distance.”