Australian Clearance Diving Team One
Australian Clearance Diving Team One (AUSCDT ONE) is one of two commissioned Clearance Diving Teams in the Royal Australian Navy. The first Clearance Diving Team was established on 18 March 1966 at HMAS Waterhen to support the Eastern based fleet. Australian Navy Clearance Divers have always been the Australian Defence Force's (ADF) specialist divers and have, since the inception of the Branch in 1951, operated all in-service diving equipment to the full extent of its operational capability.
Clearance Divers perform Expeditionary Reconnaissance and Clearance (ERC), Underwater Damage Repair (UDR) and Maritime Explosive Ordnance Disposal (MEOD). AUSCDT ONE is structured into four elements of ERC, MEOD, UDR and a Command and Support element. Through the use of some or all of these elements, AUSCDT ONE is capable of performing Improvised Explosive Device Disposal (IEDD), Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), Very Shallow Water Mine Counter Measures (VSW MCM), reconnaissance, Mine Counter Measures and Surface Supplied Breathing Apparatus (SSBA) diving for the use of underwater electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic tools including welding, ultra-thermic cutting, chainsaws, grinding, jackhammer and lift bag operation.
AUSCDT ONE personnel have been involved in numerous operations including; Vietnam, Gulf War One and Two (through the formation of AUSCDT THREE) and as part of ADF responses to humanitarian and disaster relief operations both domestically and within the region. AUSCDT ONE is regularly involved in major international exercises such as RIM OF THE PACIFIC (RIMPAC), TRI-CRAB, TALISMAN SABRE and BERSAMA LIMA.
All sailors joining the Diving Branch must undergo acceptance testing and complete the arduous requirements of the Clearance Diving qualification course. The Basic Clearance Diver Course spans 37 weeks while the Advanced Clearance Diver Course and the Clearance Diving component of the Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving Officers course spans 41 weeks. The demands placed on potential applicants for this category are some of the most rigorous in the Australian Defence Force.
Australian clearance divers from Australian Clearance Diving Teams ONE and FOUR conduct a practical insertion as part of their training for Exercise RIMPAC 2008.
