US Army Hard Hat Divers Operate on Bottom of Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam - March 17, 1969

"Divers" - March 17, 1969. From the Michael Sheets Collection of the Vietnam Center and Archive at Texas Tech University.

U. S. Army Hard Hat Divers Operate on Bottom of Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam (Official Department of Defense motion picture film by the U. S. Army under the direction of the MACV Office of Information. Photography by SP6 Sylvia & PH2 Zebrowski: Sound by Lt. Sheets.) Some soldiers in the United States Army, unlike their rifle-carrying brothers, have their principal activity in the water. These are the Army divers, well-schooled in all types of diving apparatus from Scuba to Hard-Hat. The Army Transportation Corps' Marine Maintenance Activity in South Vietnam calls on its Deep Sea Diving Section frequently for maintenance and repair of harbor facilities, vessels and floating craft, and salvage work. This diver, in a recent repair mission at Cam Ranh Bay, used a hard hat rig, allowing him to work at a depth of 120 feet. Preparing the diver for the dive is a complicated task requiring highly proficient tenders. In six minutes the tenders can suit up a man and have him ready to go over the side. When he is ready to go, he is carrying about two hundred pounds, including breastplate and helmet, forty-pound shoes, and 84-pound belt, plus air hose and lifeline. Once he's on the bottom, the diver and diving master are in constant communication. The diver moves up to his position, repairs the fuel line, then signals he is ready to come up. When his mission is completed, he increases his air flow, and the increased buoyancy allows him to float back to the surface.

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[TheBelldiver]

I worked nearly 8 months in heavy dress almost 7 days a week 4-6 and 8 hrs in a day on the bottom. Welding patch plates. No leaks and all around.