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Clearance Divers

Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Canadian Navy Clearance Divers are highly trained underwater specialists who are responsible to deliver Mine-Countermeasures Diving, Maritime Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Underwater Engineering support worldwide on behalf of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Clearance Divers are primarily based at Fleet Diving Unit (Atlantic) in Halifax, NS and Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) in Esquimalt, BC. Smaller detachments are located at the Experimental Diving and Undersea Group in Toronto, ON and within Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM).

Selection for the Clearance Diver occupation is open to all Non-Commissioned Members of the CAF with or without a previous CAF diving qualification.

Selection for the Clearance Diving Officer sub-occupation is restricted to Naval Warfare Officers.

Specialties

Mine Countermeasures Diving

Sea mines are an inexpensive and widely available type of munition that pose a serious risk to both military and commercial vessels. They are often unmarked and left behind after military conflicts end, which results in a further danger to members of the public. The RCN uses Autonomous Underwater Vehicles to locate these legacy Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) and then deploys Clearance Diver teams to identify and destroy them by specialised procedure or controlled demolition.

Explosive Ordnance Disposal

Clearance Divers are trained to conduct Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) techniques against a variety of military munitions ranging from hand grenades to sea mines. Uniquely, Clearance Divers are the only Bomb Disposal specialists in the CAF who perform EOD work in both the Land and Maritime environments.

Improvised Explosive Devise Disposal

Clearance Divers can also neutralize Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) using specialised procedures, Remote-Controlled Vehicles (RCVs) and tools.

Underwater Engineering

Underwater Engineering (also known as Battle Damage Assessment and Repair) involves various tasks depending on the circumstance, and may involve Clearance Divers conducting underwater searches using specialised equipment, in-water maintenance/repair of RCN assets, or light salvage. For tasks requiring longer completion timelines, Clearance Divers are trained to conduct such underwater work using Surface Supplied Diving equipment.

Special equipment

To complete their tasks, Clearance Divers are trained in the operation of specialized equipment, including:

  • Electronic Closed Circuit Rebreathers (eCCR);
  • Surface Supplied Diving equipment;
  • SCUBA equipment
  • Hand-Held Underwater Sonar/Navigation Systems;
  • Underwater tools;
  • Remote Controlled Vehicles;
  • Explosive Ordnance Disposal tools; and
  • Recompression Chambers.

Maritime Deployments

The RCN routinely deploys Clearance Diver teams to an exercise or forward staging area to conduct simulated or operational Mine Countermeasures (MCM) taskings. Alternatively, Clearance Diver teams may embark in an RCN asset in order to conduct a specific task, participate in a sea-based exercise, or as embarked forces on an overseas mission.

Recent examples include:

  • Operation Open Spirit: multinational UXO disposal operation in the Baltic Sea from 2014 to present;
  • Bell Island Wrecks UXO Clearance: embarked in His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Moncton, Newfoundland 2021;
  • MCM Exercise Arctic Edge: embarked in HMCS Brandon, Alaska 2022;
  • Operation Reassurance: embarked in various Kingston class ships in support of Standing NATO MCM Group 1, 2022 to present.

Land-based Deployments

Though an RCN occupation, Clearance Divers are often called upon to augment Canadian Army-led operations abroad. Clearance Divers contributed significantly to CAF operations in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014, with 40% of the trade deploying in EOD or Improvised Explosive Device Disposal related roles. For this reason, the Fleet Diving Units were awarded the ‘Afghanistan’ battle honour instead of the ‘Arabian Sea’ battle honor awarded to many RCN warships that took part in the conflict.

More recently, Clearance Divers have deployed in small numbers to augment an Australian Defence Force-led UXO operation in the Indo-Pacific (Operation Render Safe, 2013-present), as well as the CAF’s capacity building mission in Ukraine (Operation Unifier, 2016-2021).

Training Deployments

As the CAF’s only full-time Diving occupation, Clearance Divers are responsible for the initial and continual training of RCN Ship’s Divers, Naval Reserve Port Inspection Divers, and Royal Canadian Air Force Search and Rescue Divers.

Clearance Divers are also deployed in Diving instruction roles in support of Global Defence Engagement training activities such as Exercise Tradewinds, a US-sponsored, Caribbean-focussed training mission held annually since 1984.