Technical Diver Level 2

PURPOSE

The GUE Technical Diver 2 (Tech 2) course is the second in a series of three courses designed to develop technical diving excellence, building upon previously learned skills with a focus on extending essential technical diving skills Tech 2 training focuses on building diving proficiency at increasing depth using Helium diving gases with Oxygen enriched decompression gases. These skills include:

• the use of multiple stages
• the use of Trimix
• the use of greater percentages of Helium
• gas management
• Oxygen management
• decompression
• accelerated, omitted and general decompression strategies
• dive planning
• technical equipment configurations

Course participants will gain experience working with a variety of different gas mixtures for use as bottom mix and multiple decompression gases.

PREREQUISITES

• Must meet GUE General Course Prerequisites as outlined in Section 1.6
• Must be a minimum of 21 years of age
• Must be GUE DIR Fundamentals and GUE Tech 1 qualified
• Must have a minimum of 200 logged dives, with at least fifty (50) dives on double tanks/cylinders; twenty-five (25) of these should have utilized a single stage
• Must have a minimum of twenty-five (25) dives beyond Technical Diver Level 1 qualification
• Must be able to swim a distance of at least 60 feet/18 meters on a breath hold
• Must be able to swim at least 500 yards/457 meters in less than 14 minutes without stopping. This test should be conducted in a swimsuit and, where necessary, appropriate thermal protection.

COURSE CONTENT

The GUE Tech 2 course is normally conducted over a 5-day period, and cumulatively involves a minimum of forty (40) hours of instruction, designed to instill in divers a working knowledge of extended range diving; including physiology, tables and logistics. Special emphasis is placed on extended exposures and on their associated considerations (gas consumption, DCS, Oxygen toxicity, and thermal concerns).

Course requirements include a minimum of six (6) hours of academics, and eight (8) dives, four (4) of which will be critical skill dives and four (4) will be experience dives. Four (4) dives must utilize Helium.

Technical Diver Level 1

PURPOSE

The Technical Diver Level 1 (Tech 1) course is structured to prepare divers for the rigors of technical diving and to familiarize them with the use of different breathing and decompression mixtures. Tech 1 training focuses on expanding the fundamental skills learned in the GUE Fundamentals course (or elsewhere), and is designed to cultivate, integrate, and expand the essential skills required for safe technical diving. This will include problem identification and resolution, and building the capacity for progressively more challenging diving. In this class, students will be trained in:

• the use of double tanks/cylinders and in the potential failure problems associated with them
• the use of Nitrox for accelerated and general decompression strategies
• the use of Helium to minimize narcosis
• the applications of single decompression stage diving with respect to decompression procedures.

The class will focus on enriched air and Trimix as flexible and beneficial breathing gases for dives down to 160 foot/48 meters, and provides an excellent foundation on which divers can build their technical diving experience and prepare for GUE's Technical Diver 2 course (Tech 2).

PREREQUISITES

• Must meet GUE General Course Prerequisites as outlined in Section 1.6
• Must be a minimum of 18 years of age
• Must be GUE DIR Fundamentals qualified
• Must have a minimum of 100 dives beyond open water qualification
• Must be able to swim a distance of at least 50 feet/15 meters on a breath hold
•Must be able to swim at least 400 yards/366 meters in less than 14 minutes without stopping. This test should be conducted in a swimsuit and, where necessary, appropriate thermal protection.

COURSE CONTENT

The GUE Tech 1 course is normally conducted over a 5-day period, and cumulatively involves a minimum of forty (40) hours of instruction designed to provide a working knowledge of enriched air diving, normoxic and hyperoxic Trimix and decompression mixtures, including history, physics, physiology, tables, and operational considerations.

Course requirements include ten (10) hours of academics and eight (8) dives, six (6) of which will be critical skill dives and two (2) will be experience dives. Initial dives will be conducted in shallow water to test diver ability and to fill in any deficits in skill levels. The last two (2) dives are to be Trimix dives at depth for experience.

HMS Repulse

Dive 1

The line was tied off immediately above the Twin 15" Guns of the "B" Barbette, and there was a moderate current running. We followed the line hand over hand to the ships rail then dropped down to the sand at 54m and headed aft towards the forward funnel, the main superstructure and the command & control tower.

View of the main command and control tower that was the focus of our first dive.

We explored up and down the ships central command tower now laying only partially exposed on the sand. The Flag deck, Lower and Upper Bridges and funnel are now either buried by sand or largely obscured by nets. However the Syren deck, and both the 4” and the 15” Gun Director Platforms are clearly recognisable as is the remains of the Spotting Tower and the H.A.C.S.

1936 Plans of the Repulse highlighting the areas we explored.

We turned and swam back down the mast toward the main body of the hull out of the swirling mists of the milky thermocline appeared the distinct shape of one of the ship's nine Mark IX 4 inch low angle 'Triple Guns' two of its three barrels clearly visible the third buried in the sand. This gun was a British medium-velocity naval gun introduced in 1916 as secondary armament on the Renown class Battlecruisers.

One of the Triple Mounted 4" Breach Loading Mark IX Guns.

J pays his respects at the gun.

The same gun in 1941.

This placed us on the Conning Tower deck right beside the forward funnel an area bristling with weaponry. In fact, a few fin kicks to our left brought us to a net shrouded Vickers QF (Quick Firing) 3 pounders - used as anti-torpedo boat weapons.

Addendum: We have recently been reliably informed that what we thought was a Vickers QF is in fact actually one of the optics of one of the 12' Bar and Stroud rangefinders. Many thanks to Andrew F at the Ship Model Forum for this correction.

The breach & Mount of a Vickers 3 Pounder
or a 12' Barr and Stroud Ranger finder shouded in nets.

A vickers QF.

 Barr and Stroud Ranger finder.
1936 Plans showing the location of the weaponry on the Starboard side of the Conning Tower Deck.

Beyond the Triple Gun and further aft we came upon the remains of a large Carley Float, these invertible life-rafts were formed from a length of copper tubing 30-50 cm in diameter bent into an oval ring. The ring was originally surrounded by a buoyant mass of kapok or cork and covered by canvas. The floor of the raft was made from a wood or webbing grating, all now long gone but the copper ring was still clearly recognizable.

The remains of a Carley Float.

Carley Floats stowed aboard HMS Rodney 1940.

A Carley Float in action.

This life-raft had come loose from its stowage location on the Shelter Deck below was resting against one of the ship's three 2 pound Mark VIII pom pom anti-aircraft arrays its eight 40mm barrels clearly recognizable despite the years.

Encrusted Mk VIII Pom-Pom.

These guns were advanced weapons when introduced, but by the outbreak of World War II advances in aircraft would have effectively made it obsolete, but for the introduction of a high velocity round, and new Director designs. It was intended that the curtain of fire it threw up would be sufficient to deter attacking aircraft and it did deter many attacks, but was hampered by an ineffective director.

Mk VIII Pom-Poms on HMS Rodney 1940.

The after action report on the battle of HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales judged that the single 40mm Bofors gun, mounted on the quarterdeck, had been a more effective anti-aircraft weapon than the entire battery of multiple pom-pom mounts, as the pom-pom ammunition had deteriorated badly in their ready use lockers, and the Type 282 radar units also failed in the equatorial heat. In the same action, the Commissioned Gunner of HMS Repulse spent the whole action running from one pom-pom mount to another trying to keep them operational due to the faulty ammunition.

From the Pom-Pom we swam onto the Shelter Deck and worked our way stern to look at the sides of the Seaplane Hanger and ascending to the ships rail at the catapult before heading back up and across the hull to the line.

Watch the video of this dive here: