Navy Recruits who pass the Navy Diver (ND) rating requirements of the Physical Readiness Test will attend the Navy Diver Preparatory Community of Interest School at Naval Training Center Great Lakes in Illinois. There, NDs and Sailors from other ratings with diving duties will undergo two months of training in electrical and engineering fundamentals, water adaptability courses, and a strict regimen of physical-fitness training.
Only at that point will ND Sailors attend the Class “A” Technical School for their rating, which is held at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Florida. It’s here that they begin to learn the tasks they’ll face in the course of duty and how to use the various tools and equipment required to carry perform them. Many of the tools they will use are employed in ship repair, maintenance, and salvage: underwater cutting devices, welding tools, and hydraulic equipment used for lifting heavy structures or equipment.
Of course, working underwater means staying underwater for considerable lengths of time, and during this training NDs will be taught diving skills employed air and mixed gases, along with techniques to avoid decompression sickness (“the bends”) and how to operate a Recompression Chamber to both prevent and treat decompression sickness.
Successful completion of the Class “A” leads to one of a number of assignments as a Second Class Diver, including aboard repair and salvage vessels, Mobile Diving and Salvage Units, or Explosive Ordnance Disposal/Sea Air Land (SEAL) teams. At the end of a second tour, a Navy Diver becomes eligible for training as a First Class Diver, and achieving that certification will lead to assignments comprising a broad spectrum of jobs that necessitate advanced, extensive knowledge of diving systems.
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