British, Moroccan Navies Practice Tactical Diving Ops in Gibraltar

The UK Royal Navy and the Royal Moroccan Navy have conducted a joint tactical diving demonstration in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.

The event focused on the forces’ interoperability to undertake underwater missions by leveraging British vessels deployed at the Strait of Gibraltar, particularly the 19-meter (62-foot) Cutlass-class fast patrol craft made specifically to sail in the region.

In the drills, members of the Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron’s Clearance Diving Element (CDE) and their Morrocan counterparts simulated injured diver rescue under various conditions using the HMS Cutlass on the coast near the Gibraltar Airport.

Practices covered their own individual emergency procedures and a collaborative approach to complete each task.

“It was great to see the squadron and the clearance divers come together to prove a concept of utilising the launch as a dive platform,” Royal Navy Gibraltar CDE’s Chief Petty Officer James Roberts stated.

“This has never been achieved before but has proven that the divers can deploy and safely recover divers to the launch during diving operations.”

“This certainly now offers our Command more options when undertaking future tasking.”

In November, the CDE and Moroccan groups conducted a parallel diving mission rehearsal in the Strait’s southwestern portion of Tangier Bay.

The team utilized HMS Cutlass’s sister ship, the HMS Dagger, to practice subsea specialist deployments as well as ammunition searches.

Alongside the patrol ship, personnel used CDE’s Crabb support boat to carry detached divers throughout the tests.

“As a very-high-readiness squadron, we have now added another skill set to our portfolio,” HMS Dagger Commander Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Davies commented at the recent Gibraltar Airport demonstration.

“Being able to join the capabilities of the already well-established units has provided [UK Strategic Command] with an enhanced capability. This has the potential to contribute positively to our existing maritime security operations.”