UNDERWATER HUNTERS Their job is not just strenuous, but also explosive: This unit of the German Navy specializes in defusing explosive devices. The lack of new recruits is due to the training – which is rather demanding. TEXT BJÖRN WÖLKE PHOTOS PATRICK OHLIGSCHLÄGER MASTER OF THE DEPTHS One of several dozen mine clearance divers in the armed forces in Eckernförde, a coastal town in Schleswig-Holstein – they are trained to defuse explosives at depths as low as 54 meters 56 DRÄGER REVIEW 123 | 1 / 2021 MILITARY NAVY DIVERS ten 50-kilo bench presses, and recovering two five-kilo rings from a depth of three meters. Lastly, the candidates must do as many push-ups and sit-ups as they can in two minutes! Those who pass the test here will subsequently embark on a training course lasting up to 42 months, depend - ing on rank and degree of specialization. Most candidates are diving for the first time with apparatus, so they are learn- ing this discipline from scratch. They attend seminars over the course of several weeks in order to familiarize themselves with various kinds of ordnance and booby oored contact mine or trap mines, known as IEDs (improvised Mwashing machine? For Christian M., whose explosive devices) in military jargon, along full name cannot be revealed, this is a seri- with their characteristics and behavior – ous question. The answer can be a mat- and also learn how to dispose of ordnance. ter of life or death when the 33-year-old “The homemade ones are the most dan- dives down into the Baltic Sea. He gener- gerous, because there are no limits to ally cannot see very much and one false the imagination,” says mine clearance MINES IN THE NORTH SEA move would have fatal consequences. It is diver Chris. AND BALTIC SEA an occupational hazard. His job is one of “UNDAUNTED BY DIFFICULTIES” Sea mines are classified into ground mines the toughest the German Navy has to offer: and moored contact mines, depending on Chris, as his colleagues call him, has been The level of training is also high. What the way in which they are positioned, and into a mine clearance diver for eight years. kind of ordnance is there? How do the var- contact and remote detonation mines, ious types differ? How can they be opened depending on the type of detonator – they TOUGH TRAINING with blasting technology? How many explo- can be laid in virtually all water depths. Moored contact mines are anchored on the As such, the native of Saxony is part of sives must be attached and where? What is seabed and floatbeneath the water surface; the diving elite in the armed forces. The the best way to blast them? And above all their explosive power can sink entire ships. demands in this specialized unit are high. else: How do you manage to ensure that Gigantic mine barriers were laid in the The mine clearance company at the mili- the mind doesn’t play tricks on you in a world wars – after which large amounts of tary base in Eckernförde, Schleswig-Hol- life-threatening situation? In contrast, the unused bombs and grenades were dumped. stein, has around 120 posts, although not final examination appears to be a breeze – Old explosives and chemical munitions are a problem. Experts estimate that in the even half of them are filled. There is an here the soldiers must complete a 20-kilo- North Sea and Baltic Sea there are still intense search for new recruits. An eight- meter run wearing a backpack and then more than 1.5 million tons of them. week selection process prepares the appli- swim ten kilometers back. Spending sev- cants for their first milestone: the fitness eral hours in the cold Baltic Sea requires entrance test. It includes a five-kilometer physical and mental fitness. Only those run in less than 23 minutes, a 1,000-meter who possess both and can regularly push swim in no more than 24 minutes, dynam- themselves to their limit will live up to the ic apnea over a distance of 30 meters and mine clearance divers’ motto: Nec aspera static apnea for 60 seconds, six pull-ups, terrent – “Undaunted by difficulties.” DRÄGER REVIEW 123 | 1 / 2021 57 EVEN 75 YEARS AFTER THE END OF THE WAR, THE SEA IS STILL FULL OF EXPLOSIVE SURPRISES No woman has thus far made it into this male domain. “We attend to anything that can explode underwater, but also many things on land,” says Chris, father of one son, describing his job. “A lot of it plays out in the mind,” says the chief petty offi- cer. You have to be able to keep a cool head when you’re alone with an explo- sive device at a depth of 54 meters. Most are remnants from the Second World War. More than 1.5 million tons of these old dumped in the sea – even in crisis regions, munitions are scattered across the North by NATO mandate. If nothing else, the Sea and Baltic Sea. Even 75 years after the weapons present a grave danger to ship- war ended, the seabed is still littered with ping traffic. Equipped with special tech- PHOTO: PHOTO: BUNDESWEHR/ANDREA BIENERT these explosive remains. Nobody has really nology, the hunt is conducted in spe - paid much attention to them for decades. cial boats. If an object is detected using A GARDEN However, there are risks associated with sonar, it is classified as mine-like contact FULL OF MINES simply leaving the ordnance in the sea. (MILCO). It is then up to the command- Prospective mine clearance divers Hazardous substances poison the under- er to decide whether to launch a mine cannot avoid this special garden at the water world, terrorists could recycle the clearance diving mission to take a clos- naval base in Eckernförde; it is an inte- gral part of the training. In the so-called ordnance, and it hinders the construction er look at the object. Chris and his col- mine garden, they learn to recognize, of wind farms and cable routes. And not all leagues sometimes come across surpris- detect, and identify explosive devices. mines are the same. Some are as small as es when the “thing” on the seabed turns Apart from the shallow depth, the condi- a beer can, while others weigh many tons out to be a domestic appliance, for exam- tions are realistic. The underwater mines and are several meters long. They can take ple, although this is the exception. are real, but have been defused. There the form of torpedoes, spheres, or plates. is a course for underwater military DISRUPTIVE MAGNETIC FIELDS units at depths of between five and ten Chris can generally tell quickly which mod- meters. Is that an overgrown mine or el he is dealing with. Should this not be When a mine clearance diver approaches a has someone disposed of an old elec- the case, he assesses it and makes notes “contact,” he sizes it up before touching it. tric appliance? Is there a risk of a dud underwater on a plastic board about its He carefully runs his fingers over the gen- exploding? Trained mine clearance shape, length, and position – and then, erally overgrown surface in order to get an divers are specialists who operate at back on board, he discusses how to pro- idea of what exactly he is dealing with – a depths as deep as 54 meters and can ceed further with his commander. washing machine, secretly dumped, or old dispose of all kinds of explosive devices. ordnance? If the latter, is it from France, SURPRISES the UK, the former Soviet Union, or Ger- ON THE SEABED many? Live or not? In any case, he mustn’t He has familiarized himself with the dif- handle the ordnance too firmly, because ferent types in a hall at the military base the detonator is often still fully intact – in Eckernförde. Hundreds, if not thou- even after more than three-quarters of a sands, of types of ordnance from all over century in the sea – and could cause an the world stand, lie, and hang here – all explosion if the mine is exposed to strong properly sorted. Chris and his colleagues vibrations. The mine clearance divers also search for weapons that have been perform this exploratory work in special 58 DRÄGER REVIEW 123 | 1 / 2021 MILITARY NAVY DIVERS WE ARE THE ENGINE! Small muscle-powered boats are a suitable means of attack, plus they can take you almost anywhere. Mine clear- ance divers also secure coastal sections, which they reach by kayak and examine for buried explosive devices with the aid of metal detectors – before other units land MILITARY NAVY DIVERS MINE CLEARANCE DIVERS CONSTANTLY RISK THEIR LIVES. PROFESSIONALISM AND CAMARADERIE HELP THEM FORM A KIND OF SAFETY NET VII Combi); either front-mounted with oxygen (for shallow diving to depths of seven meters) or including back-mounted apparatus with nitrox B, a NATO mixture composed of 60 percent oxygen and 40 percent nitrogen (for deeper dives between 7 and 24 meters). On this complex system, like much at first, but diving missions on also known as a rebreather, the exhaled air the seabed can soon be tiring. The divers does not end up in the water, but is puri- sometimes come across a now rarely seen fied by soda lime, enriched with oxygen, sawfish there. Together with a moored and fed back to the diver. The job of the contact mine, it features on the company diving suits and are equipped with various soda lime is to bind the carbon dioxide insignia of the mine clearance divers.