The Defence Media team has gone to extraordinary depths to bring you the next fleet edition of 'Defence Watch'. It is not unusual for the show to be presented from a warship, however this time the ship sits in 30 metres of water, the former destroyer escort HMAS Swan.

In a first for Australian television, presenting an entire show from the below the surface, PO Paul Mason spoke to camera through AUSCDT One's ARGA phone (underwater twoway radio) - who said PO Mason couldn't talk under water!

Bringing the show from the deep marked a nostalgic occasion for Defence Watch producer Brad Cone, as part of the decommissioning crew Swan was the first ship he served on. "It was quite an eerie feeling, Swan is covered with an amazing array of coral along with hundreds of species of fish, quite an incredible experience"

Filming the show underwater posed all sorts of challenges for the crew. "With only a short amount of time for each dive Paul had to get the lines right every time, that's not to say there isn't any bloopers", Brad said. "The success of this production was all thanks to the tireless effort of Defence underwater cameramen Phil Barling and SGT Bob O'donahoo".

Swan was sunk off the coast of Dunsborough back in December 1997 after 26 years of service to the RAN. Today she has become one of the most popular dive sites in the world attracting thousands of divers each year.

The Swan song will feature in the latest fleet edition of Defence Watch, other stories include a sortie with the Air Forces P3 Orion's, Townsville during the war years and Defence Watch hits the road with the Navy charity bike ride team. If you haven't seen or you would like to be placed on the distribution list for Defence Watch e-mail PO Mason paul.mason1@defence.gov.au. Foxtel viewers can tune into Defence Watch on SKYNEWS Australia every Saturday night at 7.30pm and Thursday at 2.30pm.

Story by Brad Cone