Canadian Armed Forces Divers - Combat Divers

Combat Divers

History. Diving in the Canadian Army began in the 1960s when, as a result of the introduction of amphibious vehicles, it was essential to provide a diving capability to the safety organization for the swimming of the vehicles. Amphibious operations also required a better capability for the underwater reconnaissance of crossing sites. Following trials in 1966, diving sections were established in engineer units in 1969. Once the diving capability was established, additional tasks were added to make combat diving an extension of combat engineering into the water. Other tasks such as obstacle construction and breaching, employing and detecting landmines and limited underwater construction were added to the safety standby and reconnaissance tasks.

General Description. Combat divers provide the Army with the capability of performing combat engineer tasks underwater. They generally conduct tasks as part of the combined arms team; however, if required, they have the ability to execute tasks independently. Combat divers are combat engineers who perform combat diving as a secondary duty. They are grouped into mission-specific teams when a task is identified and ordered, to support operations.

Niche area. Combat divers do the majority of their work on inland waterways, either on the surface or beneath the water with breathing apparatus. They usually work close to shorelines and riverbanks because that is where the rest of the army will be conducting operations. At times the combat divers will work in salt water to support Army operations. In some circumstances, combat divers can be used to conduct reconnaissance in the face of enemy forces. They would be doing this reconnaissance with the support of the manoeuvre forces, which could assist the dive team with observation and suppressive fire.

Canada's Combat Divers are an Occupation Sub-Specialization (OSS) in its Army Combat Engineer Regiments.

Training. Each of the four dive teams, one located in each of the Canadian army engineer regiments, conducts an intense preliminary selection course (typically two weeks in length) to select combat diver candidates for training. Successful candidates then proceed to a Fleet Diving Unit to begin initial dive training, and then proceed to the Army Dive Center at the Combat Training Center to complete the remainder of Combat Diver training. Once this training is completed, combat divers must dive at least once every ninety days in order to maintain their diving currency.

Weapons used include:

• C6 medium machine gun.
• Colt Canada C7 rifle (C7A1, C7A2, C7A3, etc.)
• Colt Canada C8 carbine and PDW (personal defense weapon)

Considering their role in the Army (demolition, reconnaissance, etc.), their weapons tend more towards explosives rather than firearms. As such, each diver typically carries about 20 kilograms (44 lb) of high explosives. Such explosives include: The entire line of grenades, demolition, and pyrotechnics in SNC-TEC, such as Demolition Charge M2A4, Demolition Charge M3A1, Trigran Prills, 40 mm Parachute Rocket Flare C7, Trip Flare C6, High Explosive Fragmentation C13/M67 grenades. For heavy fire support, the divers' engineer demolition section uses the C14 Mine Launcher, which can be remotely fired.

Considering their job, their land transport is limited, but they have various watercraft. Such craft include:

• Phantom remotely operated underwater vehicles
• Sea-Doo Sea Scooter, TAYUT, a Diver Propulsion Vehicle
• General Purpose Boat FDU(P)
• Yard Diving Tender (YDT) Sooke
• YDT 11 FDU(P)
• Nuytco submersibles
• Medium Floating Bridge (MFB) / Medium Raft (MR), which is transported by a heavily modified Actros Armoured Heavy Support Vehicle System.