 Coast Guard Key West, Coast Guard Key West, this is the shrimp trawler, Tarris. Coast Guard Key West, Coast Guard Key West, come back over. Fish and Vessel Tarris, this is Coast Guard Key West. Read you loud and clear. Go ahead, Captain. An American shrimp trawler working the waters along the Florida Straits. Normally has a good catch. But today, just as Dawn broke over the Caribbean. Have snagged heavy object in our nets. Looks like a torpedo. Unable to hoist the board and examine. Request assistance, over. Fishing Vessel Tarris, this is Coast Guard Key West. Request your position, also request you stand by. An edited torpedo gets a man thinking. About his crew. And the ship. And himself. 70 feet of water. We'll stand by. Coast Guard relays the report to Navy. All in. Explosive ornate disposal, Lieutenant 2. This is Key West Coast Guard, Lieutenant. Request EOD support in freeing. Under an object from the Shripper Tarris' nets. Yes. Get the gangers, and EOD call. Right. The vessel's located one mile southwest of Pulaski Light in 70 feet of water. How soon can you be alongside? Give us an hour. Navy responds with an explosive ordnance disposal team. EOD for short. Hey, what do you say? Hey, buddy. A new breed of men with a dangerous and unique mission. Their job? To find explosive weapons. And render them harmless. This is their story. Navy bomb squads start their training at the underwater swimmer's school at Key West, Florida. Every student must qualify here. They learn about first aid, safety, marine geology and how the ocean bottom plays its part in navigation. Expert instructors lead the students through this unpredictable environment of inner space. They will find the beauty of deep water, enjoy its fun, and experience its dangers. They will be taught what it means to be an underwater team. Once they qualify as scuba divers, they're ready to give it a try at the Explosive Ordnance School. Here at Indian Head, Maryland, the Navy trains men from all branches of our armed forces. The objective? To train explosive ordnance disposal teams who will be responsible for handling the disposal of explosive weapons found in and around water. They will often assist other service EOD teams and civil authorities on land. Another good recognition feature is the relatively smooth... We have here a typical influence mind easily recognized by the... This 100% volunteer group will learn how to dispose of every explosive weapon, foreign or domestic, that is known to this country. It's a long list. And it's worldwide. How can he be taught everything about German torpedoes used in World War I submarines? Or acoustic mines planted by the British in Nazi-held waters in the Baltic Sea? Gentlemen, this item of ordnance is a Chai Khan heat round. What about the Communist mortar rounds fired at U.S. troops in Korea? Or ingenious rifle grenades, stamped with oriental markings? 20 different countries make landmines. They are as different as the countries themselves. An unbelievable collection of booby traps, concealed grenades, and bombs made at home. And children's toys? Ingenuity under the Christmas tree. Yes, these are all real. This pretty doll is smiling through enough TNT to wipe out a squad of men. Bomb squad students get a new look at life here. They learn that certain countries design their weapons in certain ways. They study the architecture of explosive devices. A glance at a weapon can tell them the country of origin, the brand name, and a year it was made. Let's take a walk over there and take a look at our Falcon missile. Like music and architecture, a nation's personality is blended into the way it designs its explosive fuses. France differs from China. Italian fuses reveal their heritage. German fuses reflect the cultural line. England has its precise style, and so does the USA. After enough study, one gets a feel for this business. It's not just a matter of learning the identity of the weapon. It's a matter of anticipating what to expect and learning the skill to render the weapon harmless. In this real situation, one starts to thinking about the men he will be working with and the penalty for failure. The fine line between life and death becomes more apparent as the schooling goes on. Assignments at first seem impossible. A complete knowledge of every explosive fuse since the invention of gunpowder. Once the mechanics are learned, he is taught to apply this knowledge to a philosophy of explosives. All right, gentlemen, what we're doing here is breaking the explosive chain. There is something basic in all devices. Whether the ancient cannonball or the nuclear shell, each has an explosive train. Like a train where one car's movement depends upon another, each explosive component triggers another component until the main charge explodes. Uncouple the train of death anywhere along the line and the weapon becomes scrap metal. Keep in mind, gentlemen, that in addition to the warhead itself, we have explosive hazards in the fuse mechanism, both in the form of detonators and in the form of explosive switches, which although they may not kill you, might blow off a finger or two. Not all explosive trains can be broken. An error in assembly, a damaged fuse. A stripped thread. If the dangers involved are too unpredictable to take the risk, the EOD student is taught to explode, the explodable, a good technique. But some 20th century weapons are too devastating to be exploded. Only the most mature and dedicated EOD men are picked to join the slim handful of Americans who know how nuclear weapons work and how to disarm them. Today, the nuclear weapon. Yesterday, the cannonball. Most people think of it as a solid ball of iron. At the Navy EOD research lab, the 1 million electron volt X-ray unit takes pictures through six inches of steel. Inside this cannonball are many balls, pellets of iron embedded in an explosive that could blow up at any time. Obsolete weapons seldom reach the X-ray machine. But every known complex weapon of today is analyzed in the EOD laboratory. Chief, this looks like a VT fuse, vein operated as you can see it. A modern projectile fuse. They have more than 100 parts around which are hidden over 30 explosive packages. Third X-ray, we might be able to remove the booster by use of pliers or unscrewing of the, using our lathe. After the X-ray reveals the destructive internal system, the fuse must be dismantled and studied in detail. An extremely dangerous job. A job for one man, the laboratory disassembly expert. Working alone with tools he has designed himself, he carefully machines his way into and around the hard steel of the new explosive fuse. Combining the artistry of a diamond cutter with a surgeon's skill, he has worked 13 years at his profession without a serious mistake. The inert fuse is mated back with its weapon. Every step viewed and studied with television cameras and recorded on videotape. With complete tag. Complete tag on it. All the critical information goes into a render safe procedure that becomes a part of the regular training program and a new EOD manual that will be sent to every bomb squad throughout the world. M709, got you. With other writing on it, I believe it should be photographed for further inspection. The laboratory also analyzes each new American weapon. From its initial design to the delivery of the first production model, sophistication in weapons of destruction has led to sophistication in methods of prevention. With the help of manufacturers and other military services, exotic new tools and unusual disarming procedures are constantly being developed by the Navy EOD lab. As to whether the arming circuit has been activated. Any questions? The new universal tool is checked out in a pressure tank that can simulate under seas environment anywhere in the world to an ocean depth of 450 feet if need be. If it works here, it will be added to the EOD toolkit. This is not just an indoor swimming pool. It is a modern training tank. Icy cold and 36 feet deep. I want you to bend down the flotation gear to the ordnance. Your surface will fire the explosive actuated valve which will release the pressure from the cylinders. The cylinders will fill the flotation bladder and the ordnance will come to the surface and will bring it in. In this environment, the student finds that what he was able to do so easily in the classroom is now strangely awkward, mysteriously different. Underwater television cameras monitor every move. All techniques observed by the rest of the class as the instructor comments on their progress. Approaching the ordnance. Today's assignment. Float an explosive weapon to the surface where it can be disarmed more quickly and with more safety. In the heavy, liquid medium of deep water, learning how to move one's hands and fingers with complete assurance takes weeks of practice and instruction. The technique is precise. And in this business, 99% perfect is not good enough. As they have completed tidying in the flotation bladder, the ordnance is buoyant. We do one or two things. The classroom instructions now become real. You're going to find things a little bit different here than you did in Key West. The water here is murky. Visibility is very poor. I want you to observe all safety precautions. You ready, Chief? I want you to go out here. Use search plan one alpha. Look around until you come across what you feel is a piece of ordnance. Identify it when you think you have it. I want you to come out of the water and report back to me. You got it? All right, hit the water. Once you find your ordnance, take it easy. Cool. Be sure if it's a torpedo, how many blades does it have? Count them. Be sure. Does it have an exploder? If it does, it's got to be a torpedo. The student will pinpoint every external feature. Well, Chief, how'd you make it out? Just fine, sir. Mark 44 mod 0 torpedo. He's been taught. He's trained. He's ready. 2,000 hours of study. Courses hammered in the hard chair of the classroom. Or in the soft illusion of a sea environment. All carefully designed to develop the steady hand, the cool head, and a very special knowledge of marine biology. Basic electronics. Shark defense and right down to underwater first aid. A teaching system that molds a team that can function underwater. Think under stress. Locate a dangerous weapon and safely disarm it. Six long months and one piece of paper. Now they are ready for their first duty assignment with the fleet. The Navy Bomb Squad consists of one officer and two enlisted men. A three man task force with a half ton of equipment. 25 technical manuals. 400 tools. Diving gear, cameras an underwater sonar locator. A variety of communications equipment. And an arsenal of counter explosive charges. EOD teams see action on ammunition ships, Polaris submarine tenders. Ships with special ordnance capabilities. Or attack an anti-submarine warfare carrier. During the launch the attack carrier's mix of fighters and bombers. There's no need for the three men in red to move. It's usually a standby situation. When the planes return from their mission the team stationed aft is ready for any emergency. This is danger time. A time when an A4 returns with a live bomb. The moment of truth for the EOD team has arrived. Each man knows the other as an expert. This confidence in working together makes a team. And for a few tense moments they are the most important men aboard. Navy EOD teams are stationed around the globe. They search for enemy explosives that are frequently attached to anchored vessels. They serve in the remote areas of Alaska where EOD men improvise limited local resources to recover a deadly bomb from below the ground and deactivate it. They work with a variety of modern submersibles in recovering dangerous ordnance from the depths of our sea lanes. And at naval air stations all over the world they stand ready to assist firefighters in potentially dangerous situations. EOD teams have also paid the supreme price when the mission turned out to be unsuccessful. At least once each day somewhere in the fleet. An EOD team faces the challenge to disarm an explosive device. Today the quiet unpublished drama played out beyond public view is as unusual as it is routine. Locate one lost underwater mine. Render it safe. The storm has moved a new type mine from its mooring. The mechanics of this mine is top secret. More importantly it could be in a commercial sea lane. A single mine that could blow an average freighter to pieces. Okay Bob you have a sonar right? To locate this thing I want to get it buoyed off right away. I want to know where you are in the item as soon as possible. Mark, if necessary I'll tell you remember if anything looks long come on back up and we'll talk about it. Let's go. The procedure is scientific. Each man confident that team work will be the difference between life and death. With one man standing by on the surface the other two members of the team swim the underwater search guided by the sonar locator. Objective, one large black mine in the murky water. Depth unknown. Under certain conditions pressures of the sea can arm a mine. This mine is somewhere near 130 feet snagged to the rocky bottom. Armed dangerous. Now that the objective is reached the sonar man heads for the surface. From here on in it's a one man job. With great respect for the lethal horns and with every move a calculated risk he attaches the render safe device. The final link to success or failure. Success. The payoff for six months of training and the back-up of a multi-million dollar lab. In a sense it's all in a day's work. Three men have matched wits with a mine at the very threshold of explosion and at one. Men whose skill, training and teamwork make them more than a match for any bomb anywhere in the world.