On the 25th August, 2000, in a ceremony as dignified as the deeds of those that it honoured, the Royal Australian Navy paid tribute to the Clearance Diving Branch with the dedication of a permanent memorial to those Clearance Divers,… Read More ›
History
P.L.U.T.O. Pups
Operation PLUTO (Pipe Line Under The Ocean) was to supply petrol from storage tanks in southern England to the advancing Allied armies in France in the weeks and months following D-Day during the latter stages of WWII. Constructing flexible yet… Read More ›
Raising the ‘Vasa’
Launched in 1627, the Swedish warship, ‘Vasa’, capsized and sank in Stockholm harbour in 1628 while setting out on her maiden voyage. Although most of her cannons were recovered in 1664, the warship remained largely undisturbed until its rediscovery in… Read More ›
“Hazardous And Arduous Service” – Part 2
X-Craft Developed by the Royal Navy, in 1942 during WWII, as a more potent undersea weapon than the ‘Chariots’, the X-craft were midget submarines manned by a crew of four – one of whom was the designated diver. Embodying… Read More ›
“Hazardous And Arduous Service” – Part 1
Inspired by the successful WWII attack by six Italian divers riding three manned torpedoes on the British battleships, HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth, then – in December, 1941 – at anchor in Alexandria Harbour, the British Prime Minister, Winston… Read More ›
Midget sinks the Mighty: XE-3 and the ‘Takao’
Britain’s highest military honour, the Victoria Cross, was well deserved by people like Able Seaman Magennis, the diver aboard the midget submarine, XE-3, and it’s skipper, Lt. Ian Fraser, during the successful mission to sink the Japanese cruiser, ‘Takao’, at… Read More ›
NEKTONIX 