PICS ABLE SEAMAN EVAN MURPHY AND PETTY OFFICER DAMIAN PAWLENKO
Seaman Todd Adamson (centre), Australian Clearance Diving Team – Four, is assisted by Seaman Paul Renfree (right) and Able Seaman Gordon Mathoi to don a MK17 Kirby Morgan helmet and surface-supply breathing apparatus, worn when conducting long-duration battledamage repairs.
Seaman Brodie Lumberry. 52
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he Royal Australian Navy’s Clearance Diving and Mine Countermeasure Task Group descended on Jervis Bay, New South Wales, in October to conduct the Fleet Training Activity Dugong ’08. HMA Ships Gascoyne and Diamantina, along with Clearance Diving Teams One and Four took part in the annual training activity aimed at refining the RAN’s mine-hunting procedures and techniques. As an integrated force, they were tasked to search the waters of Jervis Bay for simulated mines and implement measures to dispose of them safely and efficiently. Commander of the Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving Task Group Commander Dean Schopen said the principle role of mine hunters is to keep Australia’s trade ports and waterways free from the threat of mines. “Training activities such as Dugong are essential to maintain proficiency, standards and safety in all core mine-warfare and clearance diving operations,” he said. The Task Group used highfrequency sonar to search for, detect and classify mine-like objects during the exercise and, once detected, clearance divers or a remote-controlled mine-disposal vehicle were used to identify and if necessary, neutralise the ‘mines’. Royal New Zealand Navy’s REMUS autonomous underwater vehicles, fitted with side-scan sonar, were also used to identify obstacles in very shallow water, with clearance divers then sent in to conduct searches of the same areas in order to re-acquire and identify mines. The clearance divers also conducted more traditional harbour search and clearance operations in a combined mission with divers from the United States Navy.
Seaman Brodie Lumberry and Seaman Istvan Dobo.