Frogman

This article is about a type of military diver. For other uses, see Frogman (disambiguation).

A French frogman with bag-on-chest rebreather with 2 breathing tubes (model "Oxygers", 1957).

A frogman is someone who is trained to scuba diving and/or swim underwater in a military capacity which can include combat. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver or combatant diver or combat swimmer.

"Combat swimming" is often used to mean "combat diving", but according to some strictly speaking means surface swimming without a breathing apparatus for coastal or ship infiltration. Such actions are a historical form of "frogman" activity and an important feature of naval special operations.

The term '"frogman" is often popularly used to refer to a civilian scuba diver. The word arose around 1940 from the appearance of a diver in shiny drysuit and large fins. Though the preferred term by scuba users is "diver", the "frogman" epithet persists in informal usage by non-divers, especially in the media and often in reference to professional scuba divers such as in a police role. Some sport diving clubs include the word "Frogmen" in their names.

In the U.S. military, divers trained in scuba or SCUBA who deploy for military assault missions are called "combat divers". This term is used to refer to the Navy SEALs, elements of Marine Recon, Army Ranger RRD members, Army Special Forces divers, Air Force Pararescue, and the Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) units.

In Britain, police divers have often been called "police frogmen". The first British police diver was Ian Fraser, a policeman who, needing to search underwater for evidence of a body, did not use a drag but went home and fetched his sport scuba gear.

Some countries' frogman organizations include a translation of the word "frogman" in their official names, e.g. Denmark's Frømandskorpset and Norway's Froskemanskorpset; others call themselves "combat divers" or similar. Others call themselves by indefinite names such as "special group 13" and "special operations unit".

Many nations and some irregular armed groups deploy or have deployed combat frogmen.

The first frogmen

The first well-known frogmen were the navy diver members of World War II Italian commando frogmen, now ComSubIn, being part of Decima Flottiglia MAS, nicknamed "Uomini Rana", Italian for "frog men", because of an underwater swimming frog kick style, similar to that of frogs.^[1] Originally these divers were called "Uomini Gamma" because they were members of the top secret special unit called "Gruppo Gamma", which originated from the kind of Pirelli rubber skin-suit^[2] nicknamed muta gamma used by these divers, but Uomini Rana was afterwards commonly used. This special corps used an early scuba set which did not make bubbles, called A.R.O (from Auto Respiratore ad Ossigeno), an evolution of the Dräger oxygen self-contained breathing apparatus designed for the mining industry and of the Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus made by Siebe, Gorman & Co and by Bergomi,^[3] designed for escaping from sunken submarines. This was used from about 1920 for spearfishing by Italian sport divers, modified and adapted by the Italian navy engineers for safe underwater use and build by Pirelli and SALVAS from about 1933, and so became a precursor of the modern rebreather.^[4][5][6][7]

For this new way of underwater diving, the Italian frogmen trained in La Spezia, Liguria, using the local Genoese newly diffused spearfishing free diving equipment (diving mask, snorkel, swimfins, wetsuit), the first specially made diving watch (the luminescent Panerai), and the new scuba unit.^[8] This was a revolutionary alternative way and the start of the transition from the usual heavy underwater diving of the hard hat divers (the only method used from 18th century) to self-contained divers, free of being tethered by an air line and rope connection.

In 1933 Italian companies were already producing underwater oxygen rebreathers, but the first scuba diving set is generally recognised inside the USA as being invented in 1939 by Christian Lambertsen, who dubbed it the Lambertsen Amphibious Respirator Unit (LARU).^[9]

Defending against frogmen

Main article: Anti-frogman techniques

Anti-frogman techniques are security methods developed to protect watercraft, ports and installations, and other sensitive resources both in or nearby vulnerable waterways from potential threats or intrusions by frogmen.

Types of armed-forces divers

Military diving is a branch of professional diving carried out by armed forces. They may be divided into:

• Combat / assault divers.
• Armed forces work divers (called Clearance Divers in the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy), who do general work underwater.
• Armed forces work divers who are trained in defusing mines and removing other explosives underwater.

These groups may overlap, and the same men may serve as assault divers and work divers, as in the Australian Clearance Diving Team (RAN).

Frogman training

Training armed forces divers, including combat divers, is often harder, longer, and more complicated than civilian sport scuba diver training, typically takes several months full-time, and the trainees must be at full armed forces fitness and discipline at the start. It needs much higher levels of fitness, and during the course there is often a high elimination rate of trainees who do not make the grade. For more details see the articles on each nation's frogman group below and their external links.

Typically, a frogman with closed circuit breathing equipment will stay within 8 metres (26 ft) due to the risk of oxygen poisoning. For comparison, trained and properly educated recreational divers with open circuit equipment can dive to 50 metres (160 ft) or more.

For example, the PADI Open Water Diver (the most basic rank) course takes 5 dives in a swimming pool and 4 dives in open water (i.e. sea, lake, etc.); after the course the qualified diver is allowed to dive to 18 metres (60 ft). The next step (Advanced Open Water Diver) allows him to dive to 30 metres (100 ft). A further Deep Diver speciality course allows him to dive to 40 metres (130 ft) maximum, which is considered safe for civil scuba diving. European agencies commonly impose a 50 metres (160 ft) maximum on recreational diving. This can be compared with military frogman training courses as described in some of the articles about national military frogman bodies included or pointed to below, and their included external links.

In some cases, well-trained and experienced amateur divers can - legislation permitting - be capable of accomplishing tasks that regulations forbid professional divers from undertaking. As an example, Simon Mitchell was able to conduct a search for the engine of a crashed helicopter at 74 metres (243 ft), when naval or police divers could not.^[10]

Equipment

For scuba diving gear in general, see Scuba set.

Breathing sets

Frogmen's breathing sets on covert operations should have particular features.

• Some are needed because they may need to swim fast and far.
• Some are needed to avoid detection.
• Sometimes patrol divers may have to be sent down to find or arrest submerged suspect divers. For reasons stated in Anti-frogman techniques#Sending other frogmen against them, underwater fights between divers are much rarer in reality than in fiction, and thus suitability of the frogman's kit for "diver to diver combat" is less important than some other features when designing it; but the point is considered here for completeness.

USA frogmen's rebreathers tended to have the breathing bag on the back before enclosed backpack-box rebreathers became common.

Features needed

US Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal dive equipment

A frogman's breathing set should:

• Be as silent as possible in use.
• Have a full face diving mask:
  • To let frogmen communicate underwater.
  • Be less easily knocked off underwater.
  • Be much less easily lost if the frogman goes unconscious underwater.
  • Be securely fastened, see here about full-face diving masks. It should have as little as possible (e.g. an excessively bulky or projecting set/air valve) that can catch on things or that an attacker could easily grasp.
• Be a dull color to avoid being seen from out of the water. Many are black, but the Russian IDA71's backpack box is mostly dark green. No large bright-colored badges or manufacturer's logos.
• Contain as little iron or steel as possible, to avoid detection by magnetic sensors. This is also useful when the frogmen have to remove or defuse mines underwater.
• Be as light and agile as possible, as far as is compatible with an adequate dive duration:
  • Be well streamlined, and as small and light as possible for the dive duration. With a combat diver this may mean removing safety features such as an open-circuit bailout that would add bulk. Long trailing hoses (e.g. regulator hoses) are easily fouled and or pulled at and add to drag. If an underwater fight, or a quick need to escape, develops, agility and lack of cumbersomeness could be vital. This applies to:
    • Streamlining in straight swimming, as he may have to swim fast and far.
    • Streamlining when he rolls over and twists about.
    • The diver's inertia when he must roll over quickly.
    • The risk of snagging on things in dark water, or being taken hold of by. The Russian IDA71 military and naval rebreather is a good example here.
• Have a long dive duration.
• The front of the frogman's abdomen should be clear so he can easily climb in and out of small boats or over obstacles, particularly out of the water.
• Have its breathing bag toughened against stabbing and scratches, or safely inside a hard backpack box.
• All controls should be where the frogman can easily reach them, and not projecting. Turning the usual type of sport diving scuba's air off or on is easy for an attacker from above but difficult or impossible for the diver himself (and has been known to happen by itself when a diver pushes through thick kelp), unless the cylinder or cylinders are mounted inverted. However, that needs more pipework, and it is easy to bump the valvework on things, including when taking the set off.
• Have its working parts and breathing tube or tubes should be safe from snagging on things in dark water, and from attack in an underwater fight, including in the risk of being "jumped" from above.
  • Long trailing breathing tubes or regulator hoses may snag on things in dark water and can easily be grasped and pulled.
  • Older Siebe Gorman-type rebreathers (see Siebe Gorman CDBA) had one breathing tube, which was in front of the chest and easier for the frogman to keep track of.

Not open-circuit scuba

A 1945 British navy frogman with complete gear, including the Davis apparatus, a rebreather originally conceived in 1910 by Robert Davis as an emergency submarine escape set.

As a result, the frogman's breathing set should be fully closed circuit rebreather, preferably not semi-closed circuit and certainly not open-circuit scuba, because:

• Open-circuit scuba makes large amounts of bubbles, showing where the diver is.
• Open-circuit scuba makes noise (on exhalation, and regulator valve intake hiss as the diver breathes in) showing underwater listening devices where the diver is.
  • There have been experiments with making released air or gas come out through a diffuser, to break the bubbles up; this may sometimes work with the small amounts of gas that are sometimes released by rebreathers, but open-circuit scuba releases so much gas at every breath that a diffuser large enough to handle it without making breathing difficult would be too bulky and would interfere with streamlining.^[11] Holding the breath to avoid making noise at critical moments is not recommended and very risky: see diving hazards and precautions
• The bulk of an open-circuit set makes the diver heavy and cumbersome in rolling over and changing course or speed.
• The dive duration of open circuit sets is much shorter than the dive duration of naval rebreathers, in proportion to bulk. However, some "technical diving" rebreathers are very burdened with safety devices such as inflatable flotation and open-circuit bailout. (Some modern rebreathers, such as the Draeger, are lighter.) The rebreathers which are the most compact in proportion to dive duration are oxygen rebreathers, but these are depth limited to about 8 metres (26 ft) because of the oxygen toxicity risk.
• The common sport open-circuit scuba set is not recommended for a fight against a trained naval or combat diver, because in any sort of underwater combat, a man with a large aqualung has a high rotation-inertia and is very unstreamlined in the twisting and turning involved in fighting and straight swimming, and his maneuvering is slowed critically compared to a man with a light streamlined rebreather with all parts close to his body.

Combat frogmen sometimes use open-circuit scuba sets during training and for operations where being detected or long distance swimming are not significant concerns.

The Russian IDA71

The Russian IDA71 military and naval rebreather is a typical frogman set:

• Its working parts are in a hard smooth rounded metal backpack casing which has little that can snag on things or be easily grasped and pulled at. There is no mass of projecting valvework behind his neck to cause hydrodynamic drag and for an attacker to grasp.
• Its only external control is its on/off switch, which is on its right edge near the bottom where he can reach it easily, and does not stick out.
• It does have looping breathing tubes like an old-type aqualung, but these originate well apart next to where they come over his shoulders and do not have to reach across from the back of his neck. They can be strapped to the shoulder straps so they do not float up into big vulnerable loops behind the shoulders.
• When the frogman comes out of water quickly, the holes in the casing let contained water drain quickly, so he is quickly rid of the weight of that water.
• In oxygen rebreather mode it is said to last 4 hours on a filling.

Masks

Some frogmen use an ordinary diving mask; some use a fullface mask, which is less easily lost underwater. The older type of British frogman's and naval diving mask was full face and had a mouthpiece inside it.

Some frogmen use a mouthpiece and noseclip or a mouth-and-nose (orinasal) breathing mask instead of a diving mask with eye windows, and special contact lenses to correct the vision refraction error caused by the eyeballs being directly submerged. This is to avoid a searchlight or other lights reflecting off the mask window and thus revealing his presence, but it exposes the eyeballs to any pollution, poison, or organisms in the water.

The United States military has adopted Oceanic/Aeris's "Integrated Diver Display Mask". It is a basic "Heads-Up Display" that lets divers monitor depth, bottom time, tank pressures, and related information while leaving their hands free for other tasks.

Fins

Another problem with a frogman who may have to come ashore and operate on land is the awkwardness of walking on land in fins, unless he plans to discard his kit and return to base by some other way than by diving, or if the frogmen plan to take and hold a position on land until other troops arrive. Some sport diving fins have the blade angled downwards for more effective swimming, but this makes walking on them more awkward.

The usual solution is for the frogman to take his fins off and carry them, but that takes time and occupies a hand carrying them unless he can clip them in to his kit or thread an arm through the fins' straps. Nowadays all fins can be clipped onto a belt without having any disadvantages.

Another type of fin that frogmen could use would have a lockable hinge which on land can be unlocked to let the fin blade hinge up out of the way when walking: for example Flipfins.

The first type of British naval swimming fin had a short blade which was even shorter at the big toe side: this made walking on land easier for such purposes as creeping up on a sentry from behind on land, but reduced swimming speed.

Diving suits

The frogman's diving suit should be a tough scratch-and-cut-resistant drysuit (perhaps reinforced with kevlar), and not a soft foam wetsuit. A wetsuit can be worn under the drysuit as a warm undersuit. In very warm water, a thin tough drysuit can be worn with no undersuit.

For Bomb Disposal Operations, Canadian Naval Divers wear Bomb suits.

It should not have obvious bright colored patches, unit badges or the suit's maker's advertising. Diving sea-police types, however, may find that a unit badge is useful.

Tools and weapons carried underwater

Weapons that can be carried by a frogman include:

• Knife: standard weapon.
• A speargun has been seen advertised in circumstances suggesting its use for combat and not for fishing.
• Underwater firearms:
  • Russian APS Underwater Assault Rifle
  • Russian ASM-DT Amphibious Assault Rifle
  • Russian ADS Amphibious Assault Rifle
  • Russian SPP-1 Underwater Pistol
  • Heckler & Koch P11 Underwater Pistol
• Standard firearms:
  • Canadian Diemaco C7 and C8 assault rifles
• Many types of explosives may be used:
  • C-4, C13 grenade, and clay explosives
  • And, most famously, the limpet mine.
• Other tools include net-cutters.

Transport for frogmen

The "maiale" or "siluro a lenta corsa": first underwater transport way used by Italian frogmen in WWII

Frogmen may approach their site of operation and return to base in various ways including:

• Swimming all the way.
• Small boats, such as a canoe or sea scooter.
• Tenders and remotely operated vehicles (ROV). Canadian divers use the Phantom ROV and Yard Diving Tenders (YDT).
• Being dropped off and/or picked up by fast rigid-hulled inflatable boats.
• The Subskimmer and similar.
• In World War II, Italy and the United Kingdom used manned torpedoes to carry frogmen to their targets. Some nations still keep manned torpedoes.
• Powerful versions of sport-diving submersibles, modified with longer duration batteries.
• The Protei 5 and similar diver propulsion vehicles.
• Midget submarines such as the X-craft, the SDV or the US Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) that have an airlock for frogmen to exit and return.
• Full-sized submarines which frogmen can exit and return to, sometimes through an airlock or a torpedo tube. These two methods, like all methods, need precautions. This link (in Russian) describes a risky diving incident from a submerged submarine: the sub was neutrally buoyant at the start, but when the first frogman airlocked, the sub's buoyancy changed causing the sub to start floating up. In later dives, the sub's captain improved ballast to keep the sub on the seabed while frogmen were coming out or in.
• Some frogmen are trained to parachute to the site of operation. The backpack box of the Russian IDA71 frogman's rebreather has two metal clips to fasten to a parachute harness.

Types of frogman operations

U.S. Army diver salvaging the Soviet submarine K-77.

• Amphibious assault: stealthy deployment of land or boarding forces. The vast majority of combat swimmer missions are simply to get "from here to there" and arrive suitably equipped and in sufficient physical condition to fight on arrival. The deployment of tactical forces using the arrival by water to assault land targets, oil platforms, or surface ship targets (as in boardings for seizure of evidence) is a major driver behind the equipping and training of combat swimmers. The purposes are many, but include feint and deception, counter-drug, law enforcement, counter-terrorism, and counter-proliferation missions.
• Sabotage: This includes putting limpet mines on ships.
• Clandestine surveying: Surveying a beach before a troop landing, or other forms of unauthorized underwater surveying in denied waters. The article "Riding on Proton" by Afonchenko (in Russian) may describe in passing a Soviet Bloc frogman infiltration into South Korean sea.
• Clandestine underwater work, e.g.:
  • Recovering underwater objects.
  • Clandestine fitting of monitoring devices on submarine communications cables in enemy waters.
• Investigating unidentified divers, or a sonar echo that may be unidentified divers. Diving sea-police work may be included here. See anti-frogman techniques.
• Checking ships, boats, structures, and harbors for limpet mines and other sabotage; and ordinary routine maintenance in war conditions. If the inspection divers during this find attacking frogmen laying mines, this category may merge into the previous category.
• Underwater mine clearance and bomb disposal.

Mission descriptions

The U.S. and U.K. forces use these official definitions for mission descriptors:

Stealthy 

Keeping out of sight (e.g. underwater) when approaching the target.

Covert 

Carrying out an action of which the enemy may become aware, but whose perpetrator cannot easily be discovered or apprehended. Covert action often involves military force which cannot be hidden once it has happened. Stealth on approach, and frequently on departure, may be used.

Clandestine 

It is intended that the enemy does not find out then or afterward that the action has happened. Installing eavesdropping devices is the best example. Approach, installing the devices, and departure are all to be kept from the knowledge of the enemy. If the operation or its purpose is exposed, then the actor will usually make sure that the action at least remains "covert", or unattributable: e.g. "...the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions."

Derivative word usages

• Some scuba diving clubs have an entry class called "Tadpoles" for younger children who want to start scuba diving.

Errors about frogmen found in public media

Wrong use of the word frogman

A new English translation of the book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea uses the word frogman uniformly and wrongly to mean a diver in standard diving dress or similar, to translate French scaphandrier.

Supposed ancient scuba divers/frogmen

Ancient Assyrian stone carvings show images which some have supposed to be frogmen with crude breathing sets. However, the "breathing set" was merely a goatskin float used to cross a river, and its "breathing tube" was to inflate it by mouth. See timeline of underwater technology.

Mistakes in fiction

Aqualungs

Many comics have depicted combat frogmen and other covert divers using two-cylinder twin-hose open-circuit aqualungs. All real covert frogmen use rebreathers because the stream of bubbles from an open-circuit set would give away the frogman's position.

Many aqualungs have been anachronistically depicted in comics in stories set during World War II, when in reality, at that time period, aqualungs were unknown outside Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his close associates in Toulon in south France. Some aqualungs were smuggled out of occupied France during the war (these may have been Commeinhes aqualungs), but the aqualung for the most part was not a player in combat in World War II.

The movie The Frogmen also made this mistake, using three-cylindered aqualungs, as seen in the movie poster. DESCO were making three-cylinder constant flow sets that lacked the demand valve of the aqualung, but they were rarely deployed in the war, and the preferred system was the rebreather developed by Dr. Christian J. Lambertsen.^[12]

After Ian Edward Fraser in 1957 wrote a book, Frogman V.C., about his experiences, whoever designed its dust cover depicted on it a frogman placing a limpet mine on a ship, wearing a breathing set with twin over-the-shoulder wide breathing tubes emitting bubbles from behind his neck, presumably drawn after an old-type aqualung. [1] [2].

The film Submarine X-1, made in 1969, loosely based on the real Operation Source, gets British wartime frogman's equipment very wrong and anachronistic. The breathing sets shown were open-circuit and were merely a very fat cylinder crosswise across the belly, with a black single-hose second-stage regulator such as was not invented until the 1960s. Also shown were ordinary sport scuba weight belts and ordinary eyes-and-nose diving masks with elliptical windows. The frogmen in the real war operation mostly used Sladen suits and an early type of Siebe Gorman rebreather.

Drawing and artwork

There have been thousands of drawings (mostly in comics, some elsewhere) of combat frogmen and other scuba divers with two-cylinder twin-hose aqualungs shown wrongly with one wide breathing tube coming straight out of each cylinder top with no regulator, far more than of twin-hose aqualungs drawn correctly with a regulator, or of combat frogmen with rebreathers. See this image for the correct layout of an old-type aqualung.

Another common mistake when drawing a diver standing on land or on deck with a bulky backpack breathing set is to show him standing vertically, whereas in reality he would lean forwards somewhat, as the weight of a backpack breathing set (20 kg or more with big twin air cylinders) pushes his center of gravity backwards. The same often happens with a film actor wearing mockup non-metal air cylinders (in somewhat the same manner as an actor carrying an empty suitcase or wearing an empty camping backpack).

Movies and fiction

Frogman-type operations have featured in many comics, books, and movies. Some try to reconstruct real events; others are completely fictional. Some make mistakes as described above. Examples are:

• The 1951 film The Frogmen, made by Twentieth Century Fox, shows some United States frogman operations against the Japanese in World War II, but with wrong kit (see above).
• The James Bond film Thunderball depicts an extended underwater battle, featuring frogmen.
• Listed at Human torpedo#Movies and fiction.
• Listed at United States Navy SEALs in fiction.
• James Bond's modern biography includes serving with the Special Boat Service through the Royal Navy.
• Simon and Garfunkel's song "Baby Driver" contains the following line: "My daddy was a prominent frogman. My mamma's in the Naval reserve."

History

In ancient Roman and Greek times, etc., there were many instances of men swimming or diving for combat, but they always had to hold their breath and had no diving equipment, except sometimes a hollow plant stem used as a snorkel.

The first known frogmen-type operations using breathing apparatus were by the Italian Decima Flottiglia MAS, which formed in 1938 and was in action first in 1940. See Timeline of underwater technology and each of the nations' frogman unit links below.

In 1942, a young physician named Christian J. Lambertsen invented the first Self-contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) and demonstrated it to OSS (after already being rejected by the U.S. Navy) in a pool at a hotel in Washington D.C.^[13] OSS not only bought into the concept, they hired Dr. Labertsen to lead the program and build-up the dive element of their maritime unit.^[13] The OSS was the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency and the maritime element still exists inside their Special Activities Division.^[14]

See also: Lionel Crabb, a frogman who spied on a Soviet warship in Portsmouth, UK.

Nations with military diving groups

Italy started World War II with a commando frogman force already trained. Britain, Germany, the United States, and the Soviet Union started commando frogman forces during World War II.

Argentina

The Buzos Tácticos is Argentina's combat frogman force.

Austria

Main article: Military of Austria#Austrian commando frogmen

Australia

The Clearance Diving Team (RAN) is Australia's combat frogman and underwater work force. The Australian SAS also undertakes water operations.

Belgium

The Special Forces Group (Belgium) has a specialized diving company for education and training of combat swimmers.

Brazil

Main article: Brazilian commando frogmen

Canada

Main article: Canadian armed forces divers

Refer to the 1967 animated film.

Croatia

Croatian BSD's 3rd Company is specialized for seaborne operations and is responsible for training of combat swimmers and divers.

Denmark

Main article: Danish Frogman Corps

Egypt

They played a major role on the War of attrition and the Crossing of the Suez Canal on 6 October 1973, by obstructing the oil pipes that would pump burning oil from Bar Lev Line to the canal.

Eritrea

During Eritrea's war of independence against Ethiopia, the rebel forces had a combat frogman force. After the war, some of those frogmen were retrained as dive guides for the sport scuba diving tourism trade.

Finnish diver insignia

Finland

The Finnish Navy has trained Finnish combat divers since 1954. Conscripts and career military are eligible to apply for the training. Annually, about 20 conscripts are trained for diving duties. Applying for combat diver training is voluntary, and the selection criteria are stringent.^[15] The conscript divers are trained either for anti-mine or for commando operations, while career personnel may also be trained for deep-sea diving duty.^[16] All conscript divers receive at least NCO training during their 12-month service period.

France

Main article: French commando frogmen

Germany

Main article: German commando frogmen

Greece

• 1953: first Amphibious Reconnaissance Squad is founded.
• 1957-1968: Underwater Demolition Training School operates in Kannelopoulos training center.
• 1968: UDT Division established in Skaramanga.
• 1969: UDT Division renamed to Underwater Demolition Unit.
• 2002: Underwater Demolition Unit renamed to Underwater Demolition Command.
  • http://www.hellenicnavy.gr/dyk_history_en.asp

India

See also: MARCOS (India)

The MCU is the elite naval special operations unit of the Indian Navy that undertakes underwater combat.

Indonesia

The TNI-AL/Indonesian Navy Underwater Combat Unit is called Kopaska.

Israel

Israeli frogmen transfer equipment using lifting-bags

Main article: Shayetet 13

Shayetet 13 is the elite naval commando frogmen unit of the Israeli Navy. The unit is considered one of the primary Special Forces units of the Israel Defense Forces. The unit is one of the most secretive in the Israeli military. The details of many missions and identities of active operatives are kept highly classified.

Italy

Main article: Italian commando frogmen

Jordan

King Abdullah II of Jordan is a qualified frogman.^{[citation needed]}

Lebanon

Main article: Lebanese Navy SEALs Regiment

Malaysia

Malaysia Royal Malaysian Navy has a navy special force his called Paskal and Royal Malaysia Police has a team of special elite force VAT 69 frogman able to run their operations It includes frogmen.

Mexico

Main article: Fuerzas Especiales

Netherlands

The Dutch Amphibious Reconnaissance Platoon is part of the Special Forces unit of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps.

New Zealand

The New Zealand Navy trains all NZ Army, NZ Police, and NZ Customs divers. The NZSAS's Amphibious Troop act as an elite Frogman Force. Military Dive Training support is also supplied to Singapore, Malaysia, Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa.^[17]

Norway

Norway's commando frogmen corps is called Marinejegerkommandoen, "the naval ranger command", which is something like the British SBS.

Norway has a clearance diver group called Minedykkerkommandoen, "the mine diver command".

Pakistan

Pakistan's SSG has a naval unit modeled on the US Navy SEALs. The SSGN has headquarters in Karachi headed by a Pakistan Navy Commander. It has a strength of one company and is assigned to unconventional warfare operations in the coastal regions. During war, it is assigned to Midget submarines. All other training is similar to the Army SSG with specific marine orientation provided at its headquarters.

Philippines

"Special Forces Combat Divers"

Main article: Naval Special Warfare Group

Poland

Three Polish military divisions train and deploy frogmen in military operations. Most known are GROM water operations detachment, 1 Pułk Specjalny Komandosów's frogmen company and Naval Special Operations Unit "MJDS "Formoza"". Polish frogmen operators are confirmed to use these weapons:

• H&K USP SD 9x19mm pistol
• H&K MP-5, MP-5SD 9x19mm sub-machine gun
• PM-84P Glauberyt 9x19mm sub-machine gun
• PKM/PKSM 7.62x54mmR general purpose machine gun
• UKM-2000 7.62x51mm general purpose machine gun
• Beryl 5.56x45mm assault rifle
• AKMS 7.62x39mm assault rifle
• H&K G36 rifle

The Polish SF uses e.g. R.C.H OXY-NG2, Aqua Lung Amphora closed-circuit apparatus.

Portugal

Main article: Destacamentos de Mergulhadores Sapadores

Russia

Main article: Russian commando frogmen

Serbia

Main article: 93 River Center

Singapore

Main article: Naval Diving Unit (Singapore)

Sri Lanka

Main article: Special Boat Squadron (Sri Lanka)

South Africa

Main article: Naval Diving Unit (South Africa)

Spain

Spain has been training combat divers and swimmers since 1967. Two units in the Spanish Navy currently operate under a Naval Special Warfare mandate:

• UOE (Special Operations Unit) - All aspects of maritime special operations at sea, on land, and by air.
• UEBC (Specialist Combat Diver Unit) - Mainly hydrographic surveys and underwater demolitions.

There are working plans to fuse the two units into a single "Naval Special Warfare Unit" (UGNE), while maintaining their functional distinctiveness.

Sweden

Main article: Swedish Amphibious Corps

• The Reconnaissance Platoon, also referred to colloquially as the Attack Divers (A-dyk). They conduct long-range reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines, sabotage, clearing beach obstacles, hydrographic surveys, and although combat is not their priority, they have a limited ability to conduct direct action missions such as ambushes. Between 6 and 10 are trained each year. The Reconnaissance Platoon is a commando unit, belonging to the amphibious battalion of the Swedish Amphibious Corps. They offer one of the hardest and most demanding training regimens in the Swedish armed forces.
• Navy EOD-divers (Röjdyk)
• Army divers (FArb-dykare) Underwater welding, obstacle clearance, underwater demolition and repairs. Belongs to the engineer troops.
• Pioneer divers (Pionjärdyk) of the amphibious battalion. Underwater obstacle clearance, repairs and EOD on land.
• Navy attack divers. (Flottan A-dyk) Underwater sabotage on enemy ships and harbours.

Thailand

See also: Royal Thai Navy SEALs

Turkey

Underwater search and Finding Commership is the unit that gives diving services in Turkey. It also gives deepwater diving and mine diving lessons to officers and petty officers. They become 1. Class Divers. Su Altı Taaruz commandos are high level divers.

United Kingdom

See:

• British commando frogmen for a list of their World War II operations.
• Special Boat Service
• Royal Engineers Specialist - Diver
• Naval Clearance Divers
• Clearance Diver

United States

Main article: USA armed forces divers

Further reading

• Frogman Operations: Decima Flottiglia Mas, Underwater Demolition Team, Human Torpedo, Sinking Of The Rainbow Warrior, Russian Commando Fro
• Frogman - Commander Crabb's story, Marshal Pugh - 1956
• Frogman V.C., Ian Fraser - 1957
• America's First Frogman, Elizabeth Kauffman Bush
• Frogman Spy, Michael G. Welham, Jacqui Welham - 1990

References

1. ^ Manuale Federale di Immersione - author Duilio Marcante
2. ^ The original Pirelli patented rubber 1930's diving suit
3. ^ Short history of A.R.O. from HDS Italy part 2 Pdf
4. ^ Short History of A.R.O. from HDS Italy part 1 Pdf
5. ^ History of the rebreathers
6. ^ Pirelli ARO WW II
7. ^ History of A.A.R.S. Apparecchio Autonomo Respirazione Subacquea
8. ^ Teseo Tesei e gli assaltatori della Regia Marina author Gianni Bianchi
9. ^ Shapiro, T Rees (18 February 2011). "Christian J. Lambertsen, OSS officer who created early scuba device, dies at 93". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/18/AR2011021802873.html. Retrieved 16 May 2011. 
10. ^ Cook, Marjorie (2009-06-06). Lake dive for engine just another day at the office. Otago Daily Times. http://www.odt.co.nz/your-town/wanaka/59911/lake-dive-engine-just-another-day-office. Retrieved 2009-09-19. 
11. ^ Chapple, JCB; Eaton, David J. "Development of the Canadian Underwater Mine Apparatus and the CUMA Mine Countermeasures dive system.". Defence R&D Canada Technical Report (Defence R&D Canada) (DCIEM 92–06). http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/7981. Retrieved 2009-03-31. , section 1.2.a
12. ^ Vann RD (2004). "Lambertsen and O2: beginnings of operational physiology". Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine 31 (1): 21–31. PMID 15233157. http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/3987. Retrieved 2009-03-25. 
13. ^ ^{a b} Shapiro, T. Rees (2011-02-19). "Christian J. Lambertsen, OSS officer who created early scuba device, dies at 93". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/18/AR2011021802873.html. 
14. ^ http://cia.americanspecialops.com/
15. ^ Finnish Navy: Sukeltajakurssi - valintakoelajit Retrieved 2/14/2007. In Finnish
16. ^ Finnish Navy: Sukeltajakurssi - tehtävä Retrieved 2/14/2007
17. ^ RNZN - Navy Dive School

External links

• Frogman term in Oxford Dictionary
• Frogman - Training, Equipment, and Operations of Our Navy's Undersea Fighters - C.B. Colby
• Images of LAR-6 and LAR-7 and FGT II and LAR V rebreathers, and other combat frogman's kit
• List of books about frogmen