Navy Divers: The Incredible Story of the Australian Navy's Elite Unit

by Gregor Salmon

   Hollywood has familiarised us with the basics of bomb disposal. From Goldfinger to The Hurt Locker, we’ve come to know that neutralising a device designed to cause massive destruction is a job best left to a specialist, a particularly courageous, skilled, and perhaps mad individual. Let them start cutting wires.    What Hollywood hasn’t enlightened us on, however, is bomb disposal as a Navy diver sees it. To do that, we should start with a naval mine so powerful its blast would sink a 2000-ton warship in seconds. Rig this mine so that it will explode if tampered with, and then drop it by parachute into enemy waters—not the clear Mediterranean but the cold, muddy flows of a British estuary. The diver’s task is to render this skittish device safe—nderwater with next to no visibility. On land a bomb technician might have about seventeen seconds to try and sprint clear if the fuse starts to run. Underwater, there is no hope of escape. He lives or dies by the success of his job—to strip the mine and render it safe so the enemy’s handiwork can be carefully examined.     Welcome to the world of Navy clearance divers, an elite unit of the Australian armed forces. Many men aspire to become clearance divers but many fail. To become a member you must pass a selection process that is as rigorous as that set for the Army’s Special Air Service regiment. There would be few, if any, military outfits in the world that would surpass them in terms of training, fitness and expertise. Navy Divers will take a rare look into the world of these unsung heroes.     Author, Gregor Salmon has been given unprecedented access to their training and exercises. He’ll bear witness to their acceptance testing, training, at-sea exercises and, potentially, their deployment in two theatres—Afghanistan and the waters off Somalia. The result promises to be a fascinating account of the Australian Navy’s most elite unit. These men are without doubt a breed apart and it’s high time their exceptional story was told.

Genres: Nonfiction, Military Fiction

294 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2011

Reviews

[David]

When I picked up this book I expected it to focus on the intensive training that Australia's Navy clearance divers do and there involvement in special operations in the last decade or so. I thought it might also provide some useful comparison to the US Navy SEALs who have been the subject of a number of books.

Perhaps reflecting the difference in culture between the US and Australia this book takes a much more circumspect and measured approach to its subject. It tracks the history of navy diving in Australia from WWII through to the present day. Clearance diving largely developed out of necessity in the European theatre of WWII as mines and bombs posed very direct threats to Britain. Some very brave men from Australia were seconded to assist the British forces deal with these threats.

Clearance diving as a profession developed after WWII and subsequently through operations in the Vietnam War and the development of counter-terrorism forces from the late 1970s. If you want to know intimate details about the work of clearance divers in special operations in recent history you will be disappointed. This information would still be classified and wisely withheld from this book. However, if you want to appreciate the intense training and the bravery and courage of Australia's navy divers you can learn a lot from this book.

[Trevor]

Navy Divers was an excellent book. It provides a very interesting and surprisingly suspenseful account of events such as the creation of the Australian Navy clearance divers and their subsequent shaping and molding in war. For anyone that’s interested in the nitty gritty of how units are formed, trained, and deployed in battle, this is their book. It covers topics such as their beginning in World War II, deployment in Vietnam, and Afghanistan. All around it’s just a very interesting read. It doesn’t take too long to get through, yet it provides quite a bit of information in it. I’d definitely recommend this book.