Month: March 2021

The Search for X5

Developed by the Royal Navy during WWII, the X-craft were midget submarines manned by a crew of four – one of whom was the designated diver.  Because of their limited range, the smaller X-Craft would be towed by a ‘mother’… Read More ›

Bruco And The Door-Stop

Designed by Australian, Ted Eldred, the ‘Porpoise’ became the world’s first single-hose, open-circuit regulator. A major disadvantage of the early models was the lack of a mechanism to purge water from the second-stage chamber should it become dislodged from the… Read More ›

The ‘K-Force’

  A comparative latecomer to the idea of using combat divers and swimmers in an offensive role, the nucleus of what was to become Germany’s KampfSchwimmerKompanie, (the ‘K-force’) were sent to Italy in 1943 to learn from, and train in,… Read More ›

“The Silent Enemy”

Lionel “Buster” Crabb achieved fame for his wartime exploits in Gibraltar as a member of the Royal Navy’s, ‘Underwater Working Party’ – a team of volunteer divers that could be speedily deployed to search ships hulls for explosive devices. (Named… Read More ›

A Breath-Taking Experience

The 1996 Tek.Asia Conference – supported by its own magazine, ‘tec asia’, distributed to subscribers of Asian Diver Magazine – re-introduced rebreathers to the Asian market. While interest in rebreathers and their capabilities was high, only three machines were realistically… Read More ›