Royal Navy's Gibraltar Squadron ships add diving rescue skills to their repertoire

Two ships from the Royal Navy's Gibraltar Squadron can now count supporting diving operations among their skill set following a series of exercises.

A new series of drills, named Project Augmentra, saw HMS Cutlass work alongside six members of the Gibraltar Clearance Diving Element (CDE) to see how the squadron can support diving operations.

One mission for the divers embarked on HMS Cutlass, alongside their state-of-the-art life support equipment, was to work on a diving casualty exercise.

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Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Davies, commanding officer of HMS Dagger and a clearance diver by trade, said the squadron, which is held at very high readiness, had "added another skill set to our portfolio".

"Being able to join the capabilities of the already well-established units has provided UKSTRATCOM with an enhanced capability," he said.

"This has the potential to contribute positively to our existing maritime security operations."

The units conducted a number of dives in order to practise their own individual emergency procedures, but also to work close to a Royal Navy patrol launch.

Chief Petty Officer James Roberts added that it was great to see the two sets of professionals working together.

"It was great to see the squadron and the clearance divers come together to prove a concept of utilising the launch as a dive platform," he said.

The exercises followed on from a historical joint dive with the Royal Moroccan Navy.

This saw sister vessel HMS Dagger escort the diving support boat Crabb, named after the legendary Royal Navy Second World War/Cold War frogman Buster Crabb, across the Strait of Gibraltar.