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'Military rebreather
diving operations'
by
EuroTek Presenter Paul Haynes
detailed presentation information >>
speaker profile >>
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Rebreathers continue to form an integral part
of military operations and remain an essential means of supporting
life during various sub-surface missions that are often critical
to broader tactical and/or strategic objectives.
Indeed the use of rebreathers and rebreather
technology continues to expand within military diving
in response to evolving operational requirements and today
you will find the complete spectrum of “old”
and “new” technology in-service throughout
the world.
Starting initially with the first military application
of rebreather technology almost a century ago and continuing
onwards through the ages to present day, using the presenter’s
extensive background in military rebreather diving, the
aim of the presentation to provide a rare insight into
the often secretive world of military rebreather diving
activity and to explore whether there is anything to be
learnt by the technical diving community from this highly
disciplined diving environment.
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Paul will also have various Military rebreathers
on show at EuroTek
'Military rebreather diving operations'
by EuroTek Presenter
Paul Haynes
The submarine sonar operators are “listening”
intently for the tell-tale acoustic signature of a Swimmer
Delivery Vehicle (SDV) but nothing is “heard”.
The SEAL Commander aboard the submarine is growing increasingly
concerned; the SDV should have “docked” with the
submarine two hours ago.
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Having now been submerged for over 7hrs,
aboard the SDV (a wet free flooding miniature submarine)
the Pilot and Navigator are mentally and physically exhausted,
drysuits have leaked and the cold is causing added mental
impairment. Between pre mission briefings and equipment
preparation they have managed only a few hours sleep in
the last 30hrs and what should have been a relatively
routine launch from the submarine and infiltration into
a hostile harbour to gather intelligence has turned into
a fight for survival. |
They know that out there somewhere, silently searching
for them is their refuge; however multiple system failures
have reduced their return journey to a painful “crawl”
and time is against them.
When leaving the objective area, the SDV obstacle avoidance
sonar malfunctioned causing serious collisions with
a harbour wall and an uncharted shallow wreck, damaging
the navigation systems. Although shaken up, fortunately
no one was injured despite the seriousness of the vehicle
damage. The SDV onboard air supply is low and gas must
be kept in reserve for buoyancy and ballast adjustment;
the Navigator suspects a gas leak probably caused by
the last collision, which tore off a large part of the
bow and port bow plane.
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| As a consequence the Pilot and Navigator
are now solely reliant upon their only remaining life
support system, a back worn closed circuit electronically
controlled Underwater Breathing Apparatus (UBA). Through
a cloud of mental confusion the Navigator is struggling
with manual dead reckoning navigation methods needed to
get them to the submarine emergency RV point. “Flying”
the SDV is becoming increasing challenging for the Pilot,
physical exhaustion and the single bow plane is causing
the lose of fine depth control resulting in additional
UBA gas usage and the failure of the compass is adding
to the inaccuracy of the Navigator’s dead reckoning
navigation calculations. |
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| The SDV’s propulsion system is now seriously depleted
and they have passed the point where there is enough “life”
to make a return journey to the relative safety of the
coast. Below them is 1000m of water, above them increasingly
deteriorating surface conditions offer little protection
to them or their craft, which remains submerged even when
positively buoyant and “afloat” at the surface;
in the black of night they will never be seen through
the submarine’s periscope. With emergency location
beacons activated, to make best use of the remaining propulsion
power there is little option other than to continue running
sub-surface out into open-ocean in the general direction
of the emergency RV point in the hope that the submarine
will find them before their UBA gas and/or CO2 absorbent
canister is depleted. |
'Military rebreather diving
operations'
by
EuroTek Presenter Paul Haynes
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Its 3:00am on a bitterly cold dark January
morning off the coast off the Shetland Isles, a small
inflatable craft is closely shadowing its Mine Countermeasures
Vessel (MCMV) “mothership” waiting for the
order to dive. Crammed aboard the inflatable are four
naval mine clearance diving personnel together with all
their diving and safety equipment, which occupies all
available deck space. Pre operation briefings and equipment
preparation commenced 8 hrs earlier and it has been a
long cold night so far. |
| A new moon and low cloud has eliminated any natural
light and the warmth of dawn is many hours away. With
a low pressure front approaching the wind has increased
and freezing sea-spray is continually blowing over everyone
aboard the inflatable. No one is talking; all effort now
is focused on keeping warm. The inflatable craft is like
a cork in the sea and the last two hours of continual
rolling and battering by the waves is beginning to take
its toll on the team’s physical well being. |
| The Diving Supervisor is concerned for his
divers and their loss of body heat and so consults the
wind chill chart in his aid memoire. Combining the air
temperature and wind speed shows they are now at the safe
diving limit, probably just beyond it. The sea-state is
building and is marginal for diving operations, if conditions
continue to deteriorate the operation might have to be
postponed. However there is considerable pressure to complete
the mission before dawn as the area must be investigated
for sea-mines prior to the commencement of naval shipping
activities in 12hrs time. Suddenly the MCMV calls up the
Diving Supervisor on the radio, the MCMV’s sonar
has identified a mine like object 58m below them on the
sea-bed and the MCM Commander requires the object to be
investigated to confirm its identity. |
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At 3:10am a diver slips over the side of the inflatable
craft into the cold dark turbulent water for final safety
check offs. The Diving Supervisor is struggling in the
sea-state to keep the inflatable craft from striking the
diver and verbal communication is difficult between the
team against the noise of the wind and now driving sleet
that has reduced surface visibility to less than 100m.
Despite this, final in-water safety checks are completed
and shortly after, in complete darkness an anxious teenage
naval mine clearance diver begins his long descent into
the unknown.
The above scenes are not the result of the presenter’s
imagination but two real world scenarios from very different
military diving disciplines that represent just two examples
of military maritime operations that are dependant upon
the use of re-circulating Underwater Breathing Apparatus
(UBA) or rebreathers.
EuroTek.08 note:-
Paul will also have various Military rebreathers
on show at the 2008 EuroTek advanced diving and emerging
technologies conference. |
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