The Canadian Naval Divers Association (CNDA) was founded in January 1981 at Halifax, Nova Scotia. The founding members of the Association were: Andre Desrochers, Stanley F. Watts, Leo Goneau, Terry Havlik, Glenn Adams, and Michael Walsh. The first president was Stanley F. Watts and the current national chairman is Wally Green. The three Chapter Presidents are: Vacant - Western Chapter, Wally Green - Ottawa Chapter and Dale Silvester - Eastern Chapter.

This site is published by the Canadian Naval Divers Association (CNDA). It’s purpose is to keep the Naval Trained Diver, both Active and Retired, informed and aware of what is happening within CNDA and other matters pertaining to Service Diving in Canada. It is also intended to keep you in touch with others of the diving community who may have been your friends and diving team members from those tremendous days in the past.

WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?

By Chuck Rolfe (CPO1 1951 to 1989)

We sometimes are asked, "What's in it for me?" In this day and age, when value for money is the driving force on everyone's bank account, this is a fair question. We are pleased to respond by drawing attention to the benefits and advantages that can be gained by becoming a member of the Canadian Naval Divers Association and maintaining your membership with the Association's Chapters.

It's our mandate to:

1. Bring together in mutual friendship those who were trained as Divers at the Naval Diving Units or Establishments.

2. Keep the members informed of and in contact with, each other and the Association by means of Communication Lists, newsletters, meetings, Reunions, socials, etc.

3. Mutually support each other as necessary.

4. Provide a central record of (and how they may be located) their long lost friends.

5. Maintain links with the Diving Units and other appropriate organizations.

6. Provide for establishing new Chapters, when required, in various regions of the country.

What does all this mean? A Quarterly newsletter (the DIPPERS DIGEST) is provided, which is a means of contact for members searching for their long lost friends, as well as being a forum for sending in informative articles. The Association maintains a national Communication List which provides the names addresses and where known, phone numbers of all Divers (not just those who are members) of whom we are aware. This started with a small listing of 30 Divers, increasing to 225 in 1989, and which is now well over the 300 mark. It is encouraging to hear that some members have already been in touch with other diving shipmates and stated that they have even been able to visit some of their chums who they haven't seen or heard from in over 20 to 40 years. Each Chapter also conducts social events for their members, thereby providing for social interaction by their members. With the meetings and triennial Reunions, it is felt that there is now an adequate means for friends to get together. This has been achieved in the few short years we have been active, which we believe is quite a good record for such a young organization -WITH YOUR SUPPORT IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER!

Clearance Diving History

Up until 1945, diving in the Canadian Navy was conducted by Royal Navy trained hard-hat divers. Taskings were limited to salvage and ship repair in shallow waters. Following the Second World War, it was apparent of the need for mine-disposal divers to be utilized for harbour defense and coastal mine clearance.

The first Canadian Dive Unit was formed in 1949 as a mine disposal organization. This unit was stationed at HMCS Stadacona and training was conducted in the United States and in England . Once enough trained personnel were available, training of non-commissioned members began to take place in Halifax .

It was quickly noticed that many of the mine-disposal tasks duplicated the taskings of the harbour repair unit and in August of 1952, the Diving & Ordnance Disposal School & Training Centre was formed. This new unit conducted operations throughout Europe and Canada 's coast as well as many operations in the Artic Ocean .

After going through many months of deliberation and training, the Clearance Diver Branch of the Navy was formed. This new branch allowed for personnel to be trained as full-time divers. Up until then, the Navy trained divers as a secondary duty. Doing so prevented efficiency in keeping qualified instructors and mine disposal divers. This new branch gained a highly sought after status as a professional and rewarding career for numerous members of the Navy and the Armed Forces of Canada. Originally located at the French Cable Wharf in Dartmouth , the unit moved to its present location at Shearwater in June of 1974.

Naval Diving Now


The Fleet Diving Units on both coasts were established shortly after the Second World War as mine countermeasures diving units, and this task remains one of their primary responsibilities. Both FDU(P) and FDU(A) have the same core capabilities and conduct Clearance Diver training to maintain their high professional standard. These core capabilities are:

1. Mine Counter-Measures (MCM);
2. Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD);
3. Battle Damage Repair (BDR); and
4. Force Protection Support (FP Support).

In order to maintain this standard, members of the diving units carry out numerous diving and demolition tasks and exercises, often in cooperation with foreign Navies such as the United States, Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia. Canadian Clearance Divers also complete a rigorous and intensive training program. All Clearance Divers begin as either ship's team divers or combat divers, where they will spend several years completing tasks using CABA (aka SCUBA) diving equipment. After this period they may volunteer to become Clearance Divers and must complete a gruelling two-week preliminary course. On the "prelim" they are assessed by instructors while competing for a limited number of positions on course. If accepted, they will then complete a one year course learning to use numerous different types of diving equipment as well as diving medicine, recompression treatment and chamber operation, demolition and Explosive Ordnance Disposal, underwater welding and cutting, ice diving, underwater photography and many other tasks. On successful completion of the course the students are awarded the coveted "dolphin" badge of the Clearance Diver.

Once in the unit the divers will be assigned to one of several sections. The Mine Countermeasures (MCM) section is responsible for mine detection and disposal, and maintains its proficiency through both exercises and actual taskings. The BDR (Battle Damage Repair) section carries out numerous ship repair tasks (such as removing and replacing ship's propellers and sonar domes) throughout the year. In addition, the BDR section is prepared to deploy at short notice anywhere in the world to carry out neutralization of ordnance and repair of underwater damage incurred in the modern Naval combat environment. BDR is also capable of carrying out salvage operations (including surveying and raising sunken vessels). The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) section carries out land-based bomb disposal tasks for their regions of responsibility, as well as investigating and disposing of unexploded military ordnance.

EOD's role has become increasingly important in recent years, and it now responds to dozens of calls each year, including such things as wartime "souvenir" ammunition or commercial explosives. The Repair section maintains all of the diving gear, and operates the unit's recompression chambers. Repair also maintains and operates Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV's). The Training section runs courses for all Canadian Forces Divers (including Air Force Search and Rescue Technicians, Army Combat Divers, and Navy Ship's Team, Reserve Inspection, and Clearance Divers). Additionally, the respective diving unit may be tasked with additional responsibilities such as submarine search and rescue, recompression treatment of diving casualties, or scientific research projects.

A variety of diving equipment is used by Canadian Clearance Divers. CABA gear (consisting of a US Divers Regulator or AGA full face masks plus twin aluminum 80 cu ft bottles) is used for the majority of ship repair and other shallow water tasks. Mine Countermeasure tasks are accomplished using the Canadian Clearance Diver Apparatus (CCDA) and the Canadian Underwater Mine Apparatus (CUMA), both of which are Canadian-designed rebreathers, built by Fullerton-Sherwood in Mississauga, Ontario. CCDA is a set-flow Nitrox rebreather capable of diving to 180 feet sea water (FSW), while CUMA is a variable-flow Heliox rebreather with onboard diagnostics capable of diving to 270 fsw (Nitrox is an enriched oxygen mixture, such as 60% 02 40% N2 while the Heliox rebreather supplies a set amount of pure oxygen and adds increasing amounts of helium to this as the diver descends). For deep non-MCM diving, the Kirby-Morgan Superlite 17 helmet with surface supplied mixed gas (compressed air or Heliox) is used. At the deeper depths a hot water suit is also used to prevent hypothermia from the extreme cold.

Additional equipment used by members of the unit includes several recompression chambers (including the Drager Duocom chamber which is portable and capable of fly-away operations), underwater cutting and welding gear, hydraulic and pneumatic tools, video and photographic equipment, hand-held and side-scan sonar's, and two ROV's; the advanced "Phantom IV' deep underwater vehicle and the larger "Trailblazer" Bottom Object Investigation Vehicle. The Diving Unit also possesses many vessels used for support of diving operations. YDT-11, used for deep diving, is a 130 ton diving tender with an onboard 6-man recompression chamber and mixed-gas surface support equipment. Many smaller craft are also used by the unit, either on their own or in support of the larger dive tenders.

Both FDU(P) and FDU(A) as well as DRDC Toronto Experimental Diving Unit are at the forefront of diving technology, and will continue to expand and develop CF capabilities in the future. Increasing integration of Naval Reserve Inspection Divers in FDU operations (in keeping with the Canadian Forces "Total Force" concept) acts as a "force-multiplier" (providing a pool of trained personnel to assist and conduct ship repair and underwater searches). In addition, with the acceptance of the "SOOKE & SECHELT" diving tenders ( 300 ton, 110 foot long) , the units are now able to extend the reach and scope of their diving operations. The Diving Units are the only operational mine countermeasures, explosive ordnance disposal and battle damage repair asset s in the Navy. The officers and men of the diving units are ready to respond to any situation and remain true to their motto: "Strength in Depth!"

Although both diving units remain comparatively small, their scope of operations is extensive, and the varied functions are of considerable importance. The units are tasked to perform the following basic functions:

• Search and inspection of the seabed;

• Underwater Demolitions;

• Mine Countermeasures;

• Explosives Ordnance Disposal;

• Salvage and Rescue;

• Underwater Ship Repair and Maintenance;

• Repair and Inspection of Canadian Forces Diving Apparatus;

• Dive Training; and

• Recompression Chamber services.

In the performance of tasks evolving from these functions, diving units works closely with various other Maritime Forces Pacific or Maritime Forces Atlantic support services such as Ship Repair Unit Pacific, Naval Engineering Unit Pacific, Queens Harbour Master, and the Rescue Co-ordination Center. Approximately 4,000 underwater man-hours are expended annually on ship and harbour repairs alone at each unit.

To carry out its assigned tasks, units are equipped with two diving tenders plus a full array of smaller working and diving vessels.

Divers breathing apparatus found at the units and onboard their diving tenders include:

• Compressed Air Breathing Apparatus (CABA) for general diving to 150 Feet of Sea Water (FSW).

• Canadian Clearance Diving Apparatus (CCDA) which is a NITROX rebreather capable of diving to 140 FSW.

• Canadian Underwater Mine Apparatus (CUMA) which is a HELIOX rebreather designed for depths to 270 FSW.

• Surface Supplied Breathing Apparatus (SSBA) which utilizes the Kirby-Morgan Superlite 17B dive helmet for depths to 330 FSW on HELIOX and the AGA Mask to 180 FSW on compressed air.

Page Last Updated: 27 April, 2013