AFTER shivering in the Arctic, the clearance divers of Fleet Diving Unit 3 roasted in the Gulf as they joined experts from around the world blowing up mines.

The US-led Exercise Arabian Gauntlet was billed as the largest mine countermeasures exercise in the world with ships and personnel from the Gulf region and Indian Ocean environs scouring the sea for mines.

The RAF flew the divers and their kit, including REMUS – the new robot submersible which scans the seabed for explosive devices – to the Gulf to join American landing ship USS Shreveport.

Shreveport served as the floating base not merely for the Horsea Island-based Brits, but also diving teams from Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

The divers were given an exercise minefield area to tackle the underwater devices, using a mixture of hi-tech – REMUS – and slightly lower tech – Jack – to find the mines.

The Clearance Diver Breathing Apparatus used by the FDU3 team is specifically designed not to alert mines to the presence of divers thanks to its non-acoustic and non-magnetic components.

As for REMUS, by sending it off to record seabed data on its own, the team could search far more of the sea than they could ever do by hand.

“Sea mines were not the only menace the team was up against,” explained Lt Cdr Simon Pressdee, Officer in Charge FDU3.

“On the first day a large shark was spotted prowling in the area and sea snakes made the occasional appearance as well.

“With 60 miles to the nearest land, diving here was not for the faint-hearted.”

The FDU3 team was not the sole British input to Arabian Gauntlet, as Bahrain-based HMS Blyth and Ramsey (see above) joined in the hunt, plus staff from the parent squadron, MCM2.

As for the divers, Arabian Gauntlet proved to be extremely enjoyable and – most importantly – useful.

“The exercise has provided extremely relevant environmental training for clearance diving and REMUS operations in a hot climate – that’s something which is extremely difficult to recreate in the UK. We’re looking forward to future training opportunities in this part of the world,” Lt Cdr Pressdee added.

The FDU3 divers are now back in Blighty preparing for further exercises overseas.