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A frogman is someone who is trained in
scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...
or swimming underwater in a tactical capacity that includes
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
, and in some European countries,
police The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...
work. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver, combatant diver, or combat swimmer. The word ''frogman'' first arose in the stage name ''The Fearless Frogman'' of Paul Boyton in the 1870s and later was claimed by John Spence, an enlisted member of the U.S. Navy and member of the OSS Maritime Unit, to have been applied to him while he was training in a green waterproof suit. The term ''frogman'' is occasionally used to refer to a civilian scuba diver. Some sport diving clubs include the word ''Frogmen'' in their names. The preferred term by
scuba Scuba may refer to: * Scuba diving ** Scuba set, the equipment used for scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving * Scuba, an in-memory database developed by Facebook * Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, either of two in ...
users is ''diver'', but the ''frogman'' epithet persists in informal usage by non-divers, especially in the media and often referring to professional scuba divers, such as in a police diving role. In the U.S. military and intelligence community, divers trained in scuba or CCUBA who deploy for tactical assault missions are called "combat divers". This term is used to commonly refer to Navy UDTs,
Navy SEAL The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting s ...
s, Navy SARC, and the Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) units. Navy SWCC have frogmen heritage of combat swimming rather than diving, one of the few and most elite units trained in this element. Other Frogmen units include
Marine Raiders The Marine Raiders are special operations forces originally established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious light infantry warfare. " Edson's" Raiders of 1st Marine Raider Battalion and " Carlson's" Rai ...
Marine Recon, elements of US Army Special Forces (aka Green Berets) Combat Divers, Army Ranger Regimental Reconnaissance Company, Air Force Pararescue, Air Force Combat Controllers, and Air Force Special Reconnaissance, as well as operatives of the CIA's
Special Activities Center The Special Activities Center (SAC) is a division of the United States Central Intelligence Agency responsible for covert and paramilitary operations. The unit was named Special Activities Division (SAD) prior to 2015. Within SAC there are two ...
. In Britain, police divers have often been called "police frogmen". Some countries' tactical diver organizations include a translation of the word ''frogman'' in their official names, e.g., Denmark's '' Frømandskorpset''; others call themselves "combat divers" or similar. Others call themselves by indefinite names such as "special group 13" and "special operations unit". Many nations and some irregular armed groups deploy or have deployed combat swimmers or divers.


Scope of operations

Tactical diving is a branch of professional diving carried out by armed forces and tactical units. They may be divided into: * Combat/assault divers. * Special mission work divers (called Clearance Divers in the British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
and
Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister o ...
), who do general work underwater. * Work divers who are trained in defusing mines and removing other explosives underwater. These groups may overlap, and the same men may serve as assault divers and work divers, such as the Australian
Clearance Diving Branch (RAN) The Clearance Diving Branch is the specialist diving unit of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) whose versatile role covers all spheres of military diving, and includes explosive ordnance disposal and maritime counter-terrorism. The Branch has ev ...
. The range of operations performed by these operatives includes: *Amphibious assault: stealthy deployment of land or
boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: ** Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where ho ...
forces. The vast majority of combat swimmer missions are simply to get "from here to there" and arrive suitably equipped and in sufficient physical condition to fight on arrival. The deployment of tactical forces by water to assault land targets, oil platforms, or surface ship targets (as in boardings for seizure of evidence) is a major driver behind the equipping and training of combat swimmers. The purposes are many, but include feint and deception, counter-drug, law enforcement, counter-terrorism, and counter-proliferation missions. *Sabotage: This includes putting
limpet mine A limpet mine is a type of naval mine attached to a target by magnets. It is so named because of its superficial similarity to the shape of the limpet, a type of sea snail that clings tightly to rocks or other hard surfaces. A swimmer or diver ...
s on ships. *Clandestine surveying: Surveying a beach before a troop landing, or other forms of unauthorized underwater surveying in denied waters. *Clandestine underwater work, e.g.: ** Recovering underwater objects. ** Clandestine fitting of monitoring devices on
submarine communications cable A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea. The first submarine communications cables laid beginning in the 1850s carried tel ...
s in enemy waters. *Investigating unidentified divers, or a
sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...
echo that may be unidentified divers. Police diving work may be included here. See anti-frogman techniques. *Checking ships, boats, structures, and harbors for limpet mines and other sabotage; and ordinary routine maintenance in war conditions. If the inspection divers during this find attacking frogmen laying mines, this category may merge into the previous category. *Underwater mine clearance and
bomb disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the milit ...
. Typically, a diver with closed circuit oxygen rebreathing equipment will stay within a depth limit of with limited deeper excursions to a maximum of because of the risk of seizure due to acute oxygen toxicity. The use of nitrox or mixed gas rebreathers can extend this depth range considerably, but this may be beyond the scope of operations, depending on the unit.


Mission descriptions

US and UK forces use these official definitions for mission descriptors: ; Stealthy: Keeping out of sight (e.g., underwater) when approaching the target. ; Covert: Carrying out an action of which the enemy may become aware, but whose perpetrator cannot easily be discovered or apprehended. Covert action often involves military force which cannot be hidden once it has happened. Stealth on approach, and frequently on departure, may be used. ; Clandestine: It is intended that the enemy does not find out then or afterwards that the action has happened - for example, installing
eavesdropping Eavesdropping is the act of secretly or stealthily listening to the private conversation or communications of others without their consent in order to gather information. Etymology The verb ''eavesdrop'' is a back-formation from the noun ''eaves ...
devices. Approach, installing the devices, and departure are all to be kept from the knowledge of the enemy. If the operation or its purpose is exposed, then the actor will usually make sure that the action at least remains "covert", or unattributable.


Defending against frogmen

Anti-frogman techniques are security methods developed to protect watercraft, ports and installations, and other sensitive resources both in or nearby vulnerable waterways from potential threats or intrusions by frogmen.


Equipment

Frogmen on clandestine operations use
rebreather A rebreather is a breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user's exhaled breath to permit the rebreathing (recycling) of the substantially unused oxygen content, and unused inert content when present, of each breath. Oxygen i ...
s, as the bubbles released by
open-circuit scuba A scuba set, originally just scuba, is any breathing apparatus that is entirely carried by an underwater diver and provides the diver with breathing gas at the ambient pressure. ''Scuba'' is an anacronym for self-contained underwater breathing ...
would reveal them to surface lookouts and make a noise which hydrophones could easily detect.


Origins of the name

A few different explanations have been given for the origin of the term frogman. * Paul Boyton adopted the stage name ''The Fearless Frogman''. In the 1870s, he was a long distance swimmer who wore a rubber immersion suit, with hood. * In an interview with historian Erick Simmel, John Spence claimed that the name "frogman" was coined while he was training in a green waterproof suit, "Someone saw me surfacing one day and yelled out, 'Hey, frogman!' The name stuck for all of us."


History

In ancient
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
and Greek times, there were instances of men swimming or diving for combat, sometimes using a hollow plant stem or a long bone as a snorkel. Diving with snorkel is mentioned by
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
(4th century BC). The earliest descriptions of frogmen in war are found in
Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...
' '' History of the Peloponnesian War''. The first instance was in 425 BC, when the Athenian fleet besieged the Spartans on the small island of Sphacteria. The Spartans managed to get supplies from the mainland by underwater swimmers towing submerged sacks of supplies. In another incident of the same war, in 415 BC, the Athenians used combat divers in the port of
Syracuse, Sicily Syracuse ( ; it, Siracusa ; scn, Sarausa ), ; grc-att, Συράκουσαι, Syrákousai, ; grc-dor, Συράκοσαι, Syrā́kosai, ; grc-x-medieval, Συρακοῦσαι, Syrakoûsai, ; el, label=Modern Greek, Συρακούσε� ...
. The Syracuseans had planted vertical wooden poles in the bottom around their port, to prevent the Athenian
trireme A trireme( ; derived from Latin: ''trirēmis'' "with three banks of oars"; cf. Greek ''triērēs'', literally "three-rower") was an ancient navies and vessels, ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizat ...
s from entering. The poles were submerged, not visible above the sea level. The Athenians used various means to cut these obstacles, including divers with saws. It is believed that the underwater sawing required snorkels for breathing and diving weights to keep the divers stable. Also, in the writings of
Al-Maqrizi Al-Maqrīzī or Maḳrīzī (Arabic: ), whose full name was Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Aḥmad ibn 'Alī ibn 'Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maqrīzī (Arabic: ) (1364–1442) was a medieval Egyptian Arab historian during the Mamluk era, kn ...
, it is also claimed that the naval forces of the
Fatimid Caliphate The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a ...
, in an engagement with
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
forces off the coast of
Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in t ...
henceforth referred to as the Battle of the Straits, employed a novel strategy with strong similarities to modern-day frogmen tactics. In the writings of Heinz Halm, who studied and translated the writings of Al-Maqrizi and other contemporary Islamic historians, it is described: "They would dive from their own ship and swim over to the enemy ship; they would fasten ropes to its rudder, along which earthenware pots containing
Greek fire Greek fire was an incendiary weapon used by the Eastern Roman Empire beginning . Used to set fire to enemy ships, it consisted of a combustible compound emitted by a flame-throwing weapon. Some historians believe it could be ignited on contact w ...
were then made to slide over to the enemy ship, and shattered on the sternpost." Apparently, This tactic succeeded in destroying many Byzantine vessels, and the battle ended in a major Fatimid victory; according to the Arab historians, a thousand prisoners were taken, including the Byzantine admiral, Niketas, with many of his officers, as well as a heavy Indian sword which bore an inscription indicating that it had once belonged to
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...
. The Hungarian
Chronicon Pictum The ''Chronicon Pictum'' ( Latin for "illustrated chronicle", English: ''Illuminated Chronicle'' or ''Vienna Illuminated Chronicle'', hu, Képes Krónika, sk, Obrázková kronika, german: Illustrierte Chronik, also referred to as ''Chronica Hun ...
claims that Henry III's 1052 invasion of
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...
was defeated by a skillful diver who sabotaged Henry's supply fleet. The unexpected sinking of the ships is confirmed by German chronicles. On 4 November 1918, during World War I, Italian frogmen sunk the Austro-Hungarian ship ''Viribus Unitis''. Italy started World War II with a commando frogman force already trained. Britain, Germany, the United States, and the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
started commando frogman forces during World War II.


First frogmen

The word ''frogman'' appeared first in the stage name ''The Fearless Frogman'' of Paul Boyton, who since the 1870s broke records in long distance swimming to demonstrate a newly invented rubber immersion suit, with an inflated hood. The first modern frogmen were the World War II
Italian commando frogmen COMSUBIN (''Comando Raggruppamento Subacquei e Incursori " Teseo Tesei"''; Divers and Raiders Group Command "Teseo Tesei") is the Italian Navy's special operations unit. Italy was the first nation to use frogmen and human torpedoes. The Royal ...
of '' Decima Flottiglia MAS'' (now "ComSubIn":
Comando Raggruppamento Subacquei e Incursori Teseo Tesei COMSUBIN (''Comando Raggruppamento Subacquei e Incursori " Teseo Tesei"''; Divers and Raiders Group Command "Teseo Tesei") is the Italian Navy's special operations unit. Italy was the first nation to use frogmen and human torpedoes. The Royal ...
) which formed in 1938 and was first in action in 1940. Originally these divers were called "''Uomini Gamma''" because they were members of the top secret special unit called "''Gruppo Gamma''", which originated from the kind of
Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyres ...
rubber skin-suit nicknamed ''muta gamma'' used by these divers. Later they were nicknamed "''Uomini Rana''," Italian for "frog men", because of an underwater swimming frog kick style, similar to that of frogs, or because their fins looked like frog's feet. This special corps used an early oxygen rebreather scuba set, the ''Auto Respiratore ad Ossigeno'' (A.R.O), a development of the
Dräger Dräger or Draeger may refer to * Dräger (surname) * Dräger (company), a German company which makes breathing and protection equipment, gas detection and analysis systems, and noninvasive patient monitoring technologies. *Mount Draeger Mount ...
oxygen self-contained breathing apparatus designed for the mining industry and of the Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus made by Siebe, Gorman & Co and by Bergomi, designed for escaping from sunken submarines. This was used from about 1920 for spearfishing by Italian sport divers, modified and adapted by the Italian navy engineers for safe underwater use and built by Pirelli and SALVAS from about 1933, and so became a precursor of the modern diving rebreather. For this new way of underwater diving, the Italian frogmen trained in
La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest cit ...
,
Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...
, using the newly available Genoese free diving spearfishing equipment; diving mask, snorkel, swimfins, and rubber dry suit, the first specially made diving watch (the luminescent
Panerai Officine Panerai (also known simply as Panerai) is an Italian luxury watch manufacturer, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A. Officine Panerai designs, manufactures and markets watches through authorized dealer ...
), and the new A.R.O. scuba unit. This was a revolutionary alternative way to dive, and the start of the transition from the usual heavy underwater diving equipment of the hard hat divers which had been in general use since the 18th century, to self-contained divers, free of being tethered by an air line and rope connection.


Wartime operations

After Italy declared war, the '' Decima Flottiglia MAS'' (''Xª MAS'') attempted several frogmen attacks on British naval bases in the Mediterranean between June 1940 and July 1941, but none were successful, because of equipment failure or early detection by British forces. On September 10, 1941, eight ''Xª MAS'' frogmen were inserted by submarine close to the British harbour at
Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...
, where using
human torpedo Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of diver propulsion vehicle on which the diver rides, generally in a seated position behind a fairing. They were used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic concept is still in use. ...
es to penetrate the defences, sank three merchant ships before escaping through neutral Spain. An even more successful attack, the
Raid on Alexandria Battle of Alexandria, Raid on Alexandria, or Siege of Alexandria may refer to one of these military operations fought in or near the city of Alexandria, Egypt: * Siege of Alexandria (169 BC), during the Syrian Wars * Siege of Alexandria (47 BC), ...
, was mounted on 19 December on the harbour at
Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
, again using human torpedoes. The raid resulted in disabling the
battleship A battleship is a large armour, armored warship with a main artillery battery, battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1 ...
s and together with a
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...
and an
oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined ...
, but all six frogmen were captured. Frogmen were deployed by stealth in Algeciras, Spain, from where they launched a number of limpet-mine attacks on Allied shipping at anchor off Gibraltar. Some time later they refitted the interned Italian tanker ''Olterra'' as a mothership for human torpedoes, carrying out three assaults on ships at Gibraltar between late 1942 and early 1943, sinking six of them.
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
raised a number of frogmen units under the auspices of both the ''
Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
'' and the ''
Abwehr The ''Abwehr'' ( German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the '' Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. ...
'', often relying on Italian expertise and equipment. In June 1944, a ''
K-Verband The K-Verband (in English "small battle unit", derived from ''Kleinkampfverbände der Kriegsmarine'' "small battle units") was a World War II German naval unit that operated a mixture of midget submarine A midget submarine (also called a mini su ...
'' frogman unit failed to destroy the bridge at Bénouville, now known as Pegasus Bridge, during the Battle of Normandy. In March 1945, a frogman squad from the
Brandenburgers The Brandenburgers (german: Brandenburger) were members of the Brandenburg German special forces unit during World War II. Originally, the unit was formed by and operated as an extension of the military's intelligence organ, the ''Abwehr''. ...
was deployed from their base in Venice to destroy the Ludendorff Bridge over the
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...
which had been captured by the US Army in the
Battle of Remagen The Battle of Remagen was an 18-day battle during the Allied invasion of Germany in World War II from 7 to 25 March 1945 when American forces unexpectedly captured the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine intact. They were able to hold it against ...
. Seven frogmen swam downriver to the bridge carrying explosives, but were spotted by
Canal Defence Light The Canal Defence Light (CDL) was a British "secret weapon" of the Second World War, based upon the use of a powerful carbon-arc searchlight mounted on a tank. It was intended to be used during night-time attacks, when the light would allow ene ...
s. Four died, two from
hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...
, and the rest were captured. The British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
had captured an Italian human torpedo during a failed attack on Malta; they developed a copy called the
Chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&n ...
and formed a unit called the Experimental Submarine Flotilla, which later merged with the Special Boat Service. A number of Chariot operations were attempted, most notably Operation Title in October 1942, an attack on the German battleship ''Tirpitz'', which had to be abandoned when a storm hit the fishing boat which was towing the Chariots into position. The last and most successful British operation resulted in sinking two
liner A low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) is a type of galactic nucleus that is defined by its spectral line emission. The spectra typically include line emission from weakly ionized or neutral atoms, such as O, O+, N+, and S+. ...
s in
Phuket Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands o ...
harbour in
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
in October 1944. Royal Navy divers did not use fins until December 1942.


Wartime developments

In 1933 Italian companies were already producing underwater oxygen rebreathers, but the first diving set known as SCUBA was invented in 1939 by Christian Lambertsen, who originally called it the Lambertsen Amphibious Respirator Unit (LARU) and patented it in 1940. He later renamed it the Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, which, contracted to SCUBA, eventually became the generic term for both open circuit and rebreather autonomous underwater breathing equipment. Lambertsen demonstrated it to the
Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...
(OSS) (after already being rejected by the U.S. Navy) in a pool at a hotel in Washington D.C. OSS not only bought into the concept, they hired Lambertsen to lead the program and build up the dive element of their maritime unit. The OSS was the predecessor of the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
; the maritime element still exists inside the CIA's Special Activities Division. John Spence, an enlisted member of the U.S. Navy, was the first man selected to join the OSS group.


Postwar operations

In April 1956, Commander
Lionel Crabb Lieutenant-Commander Lionel Kenneth Phillip Crabb, (28 January 1909 – presumed dead 19 April 1956), known as Buster Crabb, was a Royal Navy frogman and diver who vanished during a reconnaissance mission for MI6 around a Soviet cruiser be ...
, a wartime pioneer of Royal Navy combat diving, disappeared during a covert inspection of the hull of the Soviet Navy , , while she was moored in
Portsmouth Harbour Portsmouth Harbour is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Portsmouth and Gosport in Hampshire. It is a Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area. It is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it ...
. The
Shayetet 13 Shayetet 13 ( he, שייטת 13, lit. ''Flotilla 13'') is a unit of the Israeli Navy and one of the primary sayeret ''(reconnaissance)'' units of the Israel Defense Forces. Shayetet 13 specializes in sea-to-land incursions, counter-terrorism, ...
commandos of the
Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy ( he, חיל הים הישראלי, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'' (English: The Israeli Sea Corps); ar, البحرية الإسرائيلية) is the naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in ...
have carried out a number of underwater raids on harbors. They were initially trained by veterans of ''Xª MAS'' and used Italian equipment. As part of
Operation Raviv Operation Raviv ( he, רביב, Drizzle), also known in Egypt as the Zaafarana accident ( ar, حادثة الزعفرانة) or the Ten-Hour War, was a mounted raid conducted by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on Egypt's Red Sea coast during the W ...
in 1969, eight frogmen used two human torpedoes to enter Ras Sadat naval base near
Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same bou ...
, where they destroyed two motor torpedo boats with mines. During the 1982
Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial ...
, the Argentinian Naval Intelligence Service planned an attack on British warships at Gibraltar. Code named Operation Algeciras, three frogmen, recruited from a former anti-government insurgent group, were to plant mines on the ships' hulls. The operation was abandoned when the divers were arrested by Spanish police and deported. In 1985, the French nuclear weapons tests at
Moruroa Moruroa (Mururoa, Mururura), also historically known as Aopuni, is an atoll which forms part of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is located about southeast of Tahiti. Administratively Moruroa Atoll i ...
in the Pacific Ocean was being contested by environmental protesters led by the
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
campaign ship, . The
Action Division The Action Division (french: Service Action), commonly known by its predecessor's title Action Service (french: Service Action) is a division of France's Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) responsible for planning and performing cland ...
of the French Directorate-General for External Security devised a plan to sink the ''Rainbow Warrior'' while it was berthed in harbor at
Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...
in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
. Two divers from the Division posed as tourists and attached two limpet mines to the ship's hull; the resulting explosion sank the ship and killed a Netherlands citizen on board. Two agents from the team, but not the divers, were arrested by the
New Zealand Police The New Zealand Police ( mi, Ngā Pirihimana o Aotearoa) is the national police service and principal law enforcement agency of New Zealand, responsible for preventing crime, enhancing public safety, bringing offenders to justice, and maintaini ...
and later convicted of
manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...
. The French government finally admitted responsibility two months later. In the U.S. Navy, frogmen were officially phased out in 1983 and all active duty frogmen were transferred to SEAL units. In 1989, during the U.S. invasion of Panama, a team of four U.S. Navy SEALs using
rebreather A rebreather is a breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user's exhaled breath to permit the rebreathing (recycling) of the substantially unused oxygen content, and unused inert content when present, of each breath. Oxygen i ...
s conducted a combat swimmer attack on the ''Presidente Porras'', a gunboat and yacht belonging to
Manuel Noriega Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno (; February 11, 1934 – May 29, 2017) was a Panamanian dictator, politician and military officer who was the ''de facto'' ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. An authoritarian ruler who amassed a personal f ...
. The commandos attached explosives to the vessel as it was tied to a pier in the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...
, escaping only after being attacked with grenades. Three years later during
Operation Restore Hope The Unified Task Force (UNITAF) was a United States-led, United Nations-sanctioned multinational force which operated in Somalia from 5 December 1992 until 4 May 1993. A United States initiative (code-named Operation Restore Hope), U ...
, members of SEAL Team One swam to shore in Somalia to measure beach composition, water depth, and shore gradient ahead of a Marine landing. The mission resulted in several of the SEALs becoming ill as Somalia's waters were contaminated with raw sewage.


Gallery

File:Nageurcombat ix.jpg, A French frogman with chest counterlung loop rebreather with two breathing tubes (model "Oxygers", 1957). File:" 10 - ITALY - Gamma-della-X.gif, Italian
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
frogman of "Gruppo Gamma" File:The Royal Navy during the Second World War A26571.jpg, Royal Navy divers in Sladen suits during World War II File:USMC combatant diving (2nd Recon Bn).jpg,
USMC The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...
2nd Reconnaissance Battalion refreshing in combatant diving with the Draeger LAR V rebreather. File:Taistelusukeltaja mallinukke 2.JPG, Mannequin wearing Finnish Navy combat diver equipment. The chest rebreather is likely a Viper S-10. File:Maiale SLC.jpg, The "maiale" or "siluro a lenta corsa": first underwater transport way used by Italian frogmen in World War II File:Typ XXI Kampfschwimmerschleuse.JPG, Diver lock for frogmen on a type XXI U-boat. File:SEAL Delivery Team operations.jpg, A Navy diver and special operator from SEAL Delivery Team (SDV) 2 perform SDV operations with the nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine File:SDV Mk IX US Navy Submarine Museum.jpg, US Navy SDV MK IX Swimmer Delivery Vehicle. Non-watertight submersible held two scuba-equipped swimmers. File:SEAL Delivery Vehicle loading.jpg, A SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) is loaded aboard the ''Los Angeles''-class fast attack submarine . A Dry Deck Shelter (DDS) is attached to the submarine's forward escape trunk to provide a dry environment for Navy Seals to prepare for special warfare exercises or operations. DDS is the primary supporting craft for the SDV File:US Navy 050505-N-3093M-002 A member of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team Two (SDVT-2) prepares to launch one of the team's SEAL Delivery Vehicles (SDV) from the back of the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Philadelphia (SSN 690).jpg, A member of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team Two prepares to launch one of the team's SEAL Delivery Vehicles from the back of on a training exercise. The SDVs are used to carry Navy SEALs from a submerged submarine to enemy targets while staying underwater and undetected. File:SEAL Delivery Vehicle operations.jpg, Navy divers and special operators attached to SEAL Delivery Team 2, perform SDV operations with USS ''Florida''


See also

* *


References


Further reading

* Frogman operations: Decima Flottiglia MAS,
Underwater Demolition Team Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT), or frogmen, were amphibious units created by the United States Navy during World War II with specialized non-tactical missions. They were predecessors of the navy's current SEAL teams. Their primary WWII f ...
,
human torpedo Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of diver propulsion vehicle on which the diver rides, generally in a seated position behind a fairing. They were used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic concept is still in use. ...
,
Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior The sinking of ''Rainbow Warrior'', codenamed Opération Satanique, was a bombing operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence agency, the Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), carried out on 10 July 1985. D ...
, Russian commando frogmen * * * * *Tony Groom: DIVER. Royal Naval Clearance Divers work in the Falklands conflict. .


External links

*
Panerai during World War Two


* ttp://classicdivebooks.customer.netspace.net.au/oeclassics-military.html List of books about frogmen {{Underwater diving, prodiv 1870s neologisms Combat diving Special forces Armed forces diving Combat occupations