Clearance Diving takes its name from operations carried out towards the end of WWII. The ports and harbours of Mediterranean and Nothern Europe, saw unexploded bombs and booby traps laid by Germans and their allies.

 

There was a need for an elite team to find these devices and detonate them in the safest way possible. The work was undertaken by Royal Navy Rendering Mines Safe (RMS) and Bomb Disposal Units, later the work was undertaken by Port Clearance Parties or ‘P’ Parties.

 

Members of these groups were among the most highly decorated of the war.

 

70 Years of Clearance Diving

 

1952 was when this elite unit was formally recognised. Taking the skills and experience of wartime divers, this unit learned first hand of the arduous tasks undertaken to make the seas safe.

 

During the 1980s Clearance Divers could be found in the waters around Argentina; and in more recent times they have been in the Gulf of Oman, Persia, Kuwait and the waterways and ports of Iraq, clearing hundreds upon hundreds of mines; as well as supporting other military efforts. 

 

This specialist naval unit can be found anywhere in the world - detonating bombs on sunken warships, supporting rescue missions and a whole host of other duties that literally go under the radar. Perhaps uniquely, the hazardous daily duties carried out by this elite unit are the same in wartime as peacetime.