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Navy Divers Train With Philippine Counterparts for CARAT 2007

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS070602-02
Release Date: 6/2/2007 11:21:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jessica Bailey, Task Group 73.5 Public Affairs

SOUTH CHINA SEA (NNS) -- A crew of 11 Navy divers attached to Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One (MDSU-1) Det. 11, embarked aboard USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49), departed for the Philippines on May 28 to conduct underwater diving training with the Philippine Navy.

The MDSU detachment, which is based in Pearl Harbor, is part of the task group contingent here for the 13th annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise. A utility landing craft (LCU) from Harpers Ferry transported them along with 12 LCU crew members to the training site.

According to CWO3 Dave Davidson, the officer in charge of the operation, this particular mission presents somewhat of a milestone for MDSU-1 and for CARAT.

“This is the first year in many, many years that a MDSU detachment has supported a CARAT exercise, and we are very excited about having this rare opportunity,” he said.

Davidson said the training itself is fairly comprehensive and will include underwater cutting, hydraulic tools, and salvage surveys. MDSU-1 will teach an underwater ship husbandry course, which entails inspecting, maintaining and repairing Navy hulls while waterborne.

“We will focus on teaching certain diving techniques that will allow them to repair ships while the ship is still in the water, as opposed to the more traditional and expensive method of putting ships in dry dock for repairs,” Davidson said.

He said the training exercise at its core is a basic course that will help the Philippine Navy to develop a program specific to its own needs.

LCU 1627, from Assault Craft Unit One (ACU-1) in Coronado, Calif., provides familiar and welcome comforts for the MDSU detachment and its crew. The craft, commanded by Chief Boatswain’s Mate Vernvan Hinson, has a functional galley, berthing for the crew, showers, and even a lounge area.

“We will live in an air-conditioned, 20-feet-by-15-feet tent known as a Base-X, complete with a generator which will fuel the air conditioner and the electricity for the tent,” Davidson said. “Basically, we will have a self-contained, self-sufficient diving operation, right off that LCU.”

“We will have everything we need to live and work,” said Navy Diver 2nd Class Sean Malarkey, a diver with MDSU who will participate in the training.

To expedite the training effort, the unit will employ some impressive equipment, including the MK-3, a lightweight diving system that controls the air supply to divers. They will also debut a diving rig which was not an easy piece of equipment to obtain, according to Davidson.

“We will be using a new diving helmet called the KM-37 (Kirby Morgan), and this will be the first operational use of this system in the U.S. Navy,” Davidson said. “It is a commercial product, right off the shelf, and the MDSU had to receive a waiver to use it early. This model is considered the standard in the commercial diving industry, and it is a much better system because it provides greater safety and comfort.”

Other items worth mentioning on the equipment list include an Arcair underwater cutting torch, which burns at 10,000 degrees and is electricity-driven and oxygen-fed, and a Transportable Recompression Chamber System (TRCS). Davidson said the TRCS is used primarily as an emergency hyperbaric facility, but can be used to conduct bilateral training as well.

“Philippine Navy divers are only scuba qualified, not surface supply diving qualified, which just means that they carry their air supply on their backs,” Davidson said. “Surface supply diving provides greater capabilities in terms of depth, duration and safety, and allows verbal communication with divers and surface. It is a much safer system, and you don’t have to worry about running out of air.”

Davidson said conducting training similar to this one in the Philippines is just a glimpse into what the MDSU is all about. MDSU-1 routinely participates in exercises such as Foal Eagle, Cobra Gold and Northern Edge.

“MDSU-1 remains the Navy’s premier diving and salvage force, providing combat-ready, rapidly deployable MDSDs to conduct harbor clearance, salvage, underwater search and recovery, underwater training, and emergency repairs in any environment,” he said. “Our mission takes us all around the world.”

CARAT is a series of bilateral military exercises involving the U.S. Navy and the armed forces of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The exercise is conducted annually.