The Tactical Divers Group ( es, Agrupación de Buzos Tácticos, APBT) is the premier special operations force of the

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with t ...

. The Buzos Tácticos are based at Base Naval

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

(BNMP) on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

. Its men are highly qualified

combat Combat (French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, o ...

divers Diver or divers may refer to: *Diving (sport), the sport of performing acrobatics while jumping or falling into water *Practitioner of underwater diving, including: **scuba diving, **freediving, **surface-supplied diving, **saturation diving, a ...

, EOD/demolition technicians, and

paratroopers A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachuting, parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne forces, airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used ...

History

The APBT was the first

special forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

division created in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

. The unit was established in 1952 on board LST ARA ''Cabo San Bartolomé'' with instructors who were former

X-MAS Xmas (also X-mas) is a common abbreviation of the word '' Christmas''. It is sometimes pronounced , but ''Xmas'', and variants such as ''Xtemass'', originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation . The "X" comes from the Gr ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

diver

commando 40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations forc ...

s. In those times a reduced Tactical Divers Group was operating in the ''Cabo'' ''San Bartolomé''; years later the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It include ...

created a second group assigned to the Escuadra Naval del Plata. In 1966 both services were merged, creating the actual Tactical Divers Group. In the

1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands The Invasion of the Falkland Islands ( es, Invasión de las Islas Malvinas), code-named Operation Rosario (), was a military operation launched by Argentine forces on 2 April 1982, to capture the Falkland Islands, and served as a catalyst for ...

, the main landing at Yorke Bay to the east of

Port Stanley Stanley (; also known as Port Stanley) is the capital city of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the city had a popula ...

on 2 April, was preceded by an

amphibious reconnaissance Amphibious reconnaissance is ground and naval reconnaissance in the littoral area bordering coastal or ocean areas. Initially, it is used for preliminary reconnaissance in collecting pertinent information about the beachhead in its permeability ...

party of the APBT. They had been landed by the submarine ARA ''Santa Fe''. They successfully secured the beach and the lighthouse, and set up beacons to guide the amphibious vehicles of the assault group, which had disembarked from the landing ship ARA ''Cabo San Antonio'' some distance offshore. Some sources assert that ''Buzos Tácticos'' units attacked the

Moody Brook Moody Brook is a small watercourse that flows into Stanley Harbour on East Falkland, Falkland Islands. It is near Stanley, just to the north west, and was formerly the location of the town barracks, which were attacked in Operation Rosario, ...

barracks and besieged

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...

, however these troops were mainly units of the

Amphibious Commandos Group The Amphibious Commandos Group ( es, Agrupación de Comandos Anfibios, APCA) is a special operations force of the Argentine Marine Corps. Role Trained to perform quick and objective amphibious reconnaissance, assault raids, and direct actio ...

(''Agrupación de Comandos Anfibios'', APCA). The error was due to hearsay reported by a journalist from the Argentinian magazine ''Somos'', which was the first to publish an account of the operation, although a number of individual APBT members assisted the Commandos in both actions, specially around Government House. Both the APBT and the APCA teams had returned to Argentina by nightfall, on the same aircraft which had brought in the first

Argentine Army The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the command ...

reinforcements.

Organization and training

The APBT is trained to operate in diverse environments, such as jungle/riverine, maritime and extreme cold weather. All members are top niche

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

s and

. The APBT course takes place mostly in the

area. Topics include HALO/HAHO parachuting, airborne,

unconventional warfare Unconventional warfare (UW) is broadly defined as "military and quasi-military operations other than conventional warfare" and may use covert forces, subversion, or guerrilla warfare. This is typically done to avoid escalation into conventiona ...

underwater demolition Underwater demolition refers to the deliberate destruction or neutralization of man-made or natural underwater obstacles, both for military and civilian purposes. History Charles Pasley In 1839 Charles Pasley, at the time a colonel of the Roy ...

, and

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that Government, governments, law enforcement, business, and Intelligence agency, intellig ...

. The course is open to line officers and

NCOs A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...

, and is very selective, with a high attrition rate. The members of this unit wear brown berets with unit badges. The unit is attached to the Submarines Force Command, which comes under the Chief of Naval Operations. This unit is one of the two

special operations Special operations (S.O.) are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment". Special operations may include ...

forces' units of the

, the other being the (APCA), under the

Marine Infantry Command The Naval Infantry Command ( es, Comando de la Infantería de Marina, COIM), also known as the Naval Infantry of the Navy of the Argentine Republic ( es, Infantería de Marina de la Armada de la República Argentina, IMARA) and generally referred ...

.''Buzos Tácticos''

History

Organization and training

Notes

See also