Appetite for destruction

Members of Australian Clearance Diving Team Four are assisted by the newest member of their team, Cyclops”, a bomb disposals robot. This is just one of the tasks that they had to complete during the recent Unit Readiness Evaluation (URE).

Clearance divers with weapons at the ready, prepare to secure one of the beaches on Garden Island in Western Australia as part of the URE.

Photos: ABPH Kade Rogers

By Rachel Irving

In a test of unit readiness, Clearance Diving Team Four has been busy this month at HMAS Stirling with clandestine beach landings, clearing booby-trapped wharves and detonating unexploded ordnance.

This is the first time AUSCDTFOUR has undergone a URE (Unit Readiness Evaluation) since 1997 and will prepare them to become the on-line diving team, replacing AUSCDTONE.

The URE included an audit and an evaluation of the underwater battle damage repair element, including underwater cutting and welding, the clearing of landmines and anti-invasion mines on the seabed, as well as clandestine operations.

The team spent the last three weeks in tents in a secure area north of FBW’s ammunitions wharf, working around the clock both in and out of the water and coming under attack from the task group.

The first job for the mine counter measures group, MCM, was to clear an area of the beach so the team could have vehicle access.

This included clearing a path, in this case approximately 150 metres long, and expanding a clear area on the beach itself for boat traffic.

Commanding Officer LCDR Steven Bliss said the MCM team was looking for anti-personnel mines and any booby traps.

“It’s a long, slow and arduous task that involves sifting through the sand.

Some of the landmines, for example the Italian landmines, have plastic components that the metal detectors won’t pickup so it involves lots of hand work,” LCDR Bliss said.

The MCM component then cleared a boat channel checking for anti-invasion mines by putting a line of divers in the water who work in a series of grids to ensure a clear area.

“The other mission was the Maritime Tactical Operations element.

They have been focused on clearing beaches and areas for amphibious landings and advanced force operations.

This is normally conducted over several nights and they will also focus on shallow water and anti-invasion mines or anything that will pierce the bottom of an amphibious craft.”

The Headquarters and support element of the team was also tested throughout the URE. 2004 has seen the introductions of robotics and real-time x-ray for the divers, giving them a real edge.

The robotic vehicle, Cyclops, is a coup for the diving teams, giving them the ability to remotely attack and defeat an explosive device or booby trap.

Cyclops has the ability to place the real-time x-ray and deliver a suite of weapons used to defeat improvised explosive devices.

“It is very good for the attack of devices which are remotely detonated, either with radio control or mobile phone.” Cyclops is ideally suited for the shipborne environment.

It can travel along passageways and over hatch combings, and with four cameras, it sends real-time information back to its operators allowing them to make informed decisions.

“It has audio and a speaker so if we should have someone with a body bomb, we can talk to that person through Cyclops, allowing us to stay at a safe distance and without putting any of our personnel in harms way.”

Team Four will also soon trial a prototype underwater computer system, essentially a wet computer, which will allow them to input data, such as the mapping of the seabed.

Team Four will put their readiness to the test at Eden later this month at Exercise Dugong, the major clearance diving and mine counter measures exercise for the year.

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