Future of Deep Sea Diving

[litematt]

I have noticed a few statements within the different threads in the EOD sections discussing the future of Navy Fleet Divers and their respective mission. Through the quick statements, it appeared that deep sea diving and salvage was being "down-sized" and the members instead being taught to fill sandbags, etc. This thought seems supported by the Navy.mil webpage sporting photos of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit sailors learning tactical movements or studying explosives. Is deep sea diving within the Navy dying? I understand that the current conflicts in the Middle East may have some role in it, but still, are Fleet Divers salvaging from the deep or is that now becoming a romanticized vision of the past?

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[rmediver2002]

It has seemed to be cyclic in the past going from shortages to downsizing alternately.

Much more work is being contracted out throughout the services now and diving is a very equipment intensive resource to maintain.

Much of the work is ships husbandry, inspections, equipment recovery. The largest number of recent salvage projects have been the Army and Sea Bee divers and most of that was inland (vehicles, helo's, equipment (especially and weapons ect.)

[Viking]

It has seemed to be cyclic in the past going from shortages to downsizing alternately.

Much more work is being contracted out throughout the services now and diving is a very equipment intensive resource to maintain.

Much of the work is ships husbandry, inspections, equipment recovery. The largest number of recent salvage projects have been the Army and Sea Bee divers and most of that was inland (vehicles, helo's, equipment (especially and weapons ect.)

On the civilian side, how's business around the US? Every board I've seen regarding North Sea commercial diving is full of Brits who say the demand for divers is "fuck all". The schools, of course, say the demand is huge.

[Carl Spackler]

I just retired from Navy Diving and yes it has changed. EOD has snatched up alot of the diving assets and SPECWAR/USMC has a small piece of the pie as well. MDSU is working the water front but are deployed wherever and whenever. They have been working Iraq mostly but there are gigs in the Pacific that keep them busy. The salvage ships are now MSC or crewed by civilians with a Det. of divers from MDSU. Because of the new diver rate, dive school is now an A school. There are some growing pains with that as well but overall the requirements remain viturally the same. The TS projects are still going strong plus the sub rescue part of DSU. We still dive the world over just not as much as we used too.

[litematt]

DDSSDV - I figured that EOD would become the focal point regarding diving assests because of current operations and the broad spectrum of their duties. Still it is good to know that Navy Divers are continuing to explore the deep and work on salvage projects all over the world.

Originally Posted by rmediver2002
It has seemed to be cyclic in the past going from shortages to downsizing alternately.

I have actually finished reading Performance Under Pressue by Lonsdale and just skimming the history of diving illustrates that the program suffers from spurts of intense shortages and then equally impressive revivals. It was just the prevailing thoughts seen online about the new Navy downsizing being "permanent", I was concerned that perhaps deep sea diving would be marginalized for good.

[rmediver2002]

On the civilian side, how's business around the US? Every board I've seen regarding North Sea commercial diving is full of Brits who say the demand for divers is "fuck all". The schools, of course, say the demand is huge.


Pretty good right now, lots of work offshore in the gulf and guys are coming from out of the woodwork to try it. Most are only staying a short while, a couple companies have started bringing in divers from overseas to try and meet the demand.

Pay has gone up and day rates the companies are charging have increased a bit, nothing like the vessel market down there though. Vessel day rates have more than doubled since this time last year and have been at 99% booking all year.

I had heard something about a potential strike in the North Sea but it could be rumor.

Inland the market is doing OK, the work has not increased substantially but it is getting harder to find good workers.