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Dockyard Work
Perhaps the least glamorous of diving tasks belong to the dockyard diver. dockyards are notoriously grimy places and nowhere more so than underwater. Ships constantly docking and undocking required the services of divers, whilst the structure of the yard itself, warranted a permanent team of underwater masons and carpenters.
The Royal Naval dockyard at Portsmouth employed several teams of Standard Divers. Each group had its own special skills in construction, maintenance, and engineering. They not only tended to the docking of ships but if possible repaired them as well.
Dry docking a ship is expensive and time consuming, and any task carried out underwater is both cheaper and faster.
Highly skilled Standard Divers could change propellers and repair minor damage, keeping naval vessels afloat and ready for action.

Civil Engineering
Most underwater work using Standard Dress was concerned not with the mundane tasks of Civil Engineering.
The appearances of Siebe’s diving apparatus coincided with a period of immense and innovative building. New ideas, techniques and materials enabled engineers to construct railways, roads, bridges, tunnels, lighthouses and docks as never before. It is difficult to see how many of these could have been completed successfully without the work of divers, whilst maintenance and upkeep would have been virtually impossible.
Divers were particularly useful in the construction of harbours, and were often employed in conjunction with a diving bell.
Manufactured by Siebe Gorman, these huge metal structures could accommodate a whole gang of men, who carried out heavy labour on the sea bed without special equipment.
Underwater Cutting 1.
From the very earliest days of diving methods were sought to cut metal effectively underwater. When most ships and harbours were constructed of wood, this was a minor difficulty, but as the nineteenth century progressed and iron and steel became commonplace it presented a major problem.
The only real reasonable solution in early times was to use explosives, in themselves often crude and unpredictable. Too small a charge left the offending structure intact – perhaps even more difficult to remove. Too much could initiate unintentional and widespread damage!
During the First World War attempts were made to use explosives in a controlled manner, but with limited success.
However, towards the end of the war, Siebe Gorman produced the world’s first practicable underwater electric arc cutting system. It was crude, but given that electricity and water are always uncomfortable bedfellows, moderately effective.

Underwater Cutting 2.
The answer to underwater cutting lay in the development of a gas flame system.
The end of WWI provided the impetus for this with large numbers of wrecks waiting to be salvaged and dozens of harbours requiring reconstruction. Siebe Gorman, in collaboration with the British Oxygen Company, developed Oxy-hydrogen torches for underwater use.
During WW2 the underwater cutting torch came into its own, proving a vital factor in the progress of various military operations.
Standard Divers using underwater cutting equipment enabled naval salvage parties to quickly and effectively remove obstacles and blockships from recently captured harbours, allowing supplies to be unloaded for the front. During the Normandy operations underwater cutting proved especially valuable in connection with the repair of damaged landing craft. Divers simply cut away damaged areas and welded in new plates.
Self Contained Equipment
Whilst Siebe Gorman Standard Diving equipment was principally designed for use with surface supplied air, attempts were made before the Second World War to use the apparatus in a self-contained role.
This involved replacing the heavy lead weights with a compressed oxygen breathing apparatus. To give greater endurance, the oxygen breathed out was passed through a chemical filter, removing waste carbon dioxide, and enabling the remaining oxygen to be ‘re-breathed’.
Unfortunately, pure oxygen becomes poisonous at quite moderate depths, and the diver, deprived of his plentiful air supply, could only do limited work. Although Siebe Gorman had made a great effort, the self-contained Standard Diver was not a success.
Meanwhile in the Mediterranean, free swimming pioneers such as George Commeinhes and Yves Le Prieur, were perfecting compressed air Scuba, whilst Hans Hass was the first to swim underwater with ‘flippers’ or fins.

Civil Engineering Most underwater work using Standard Dress was concerned not with the mundane tasks of Civil Engineering. The appearances of Siebe’s diving apparatus coincided with a period of immense and innovative building. New ideas, techniques and materials enabled engineers to construct railways, roads, bridges, tunnels, lighthouses and docks as never before. It is difficult to see how many of these could have been completed successfully without the work of divers, whilst maintenance and upkeep would have been virtually impossible. Divers were particularly useful in the construction of harbours, and were often employed in conjunction with a diving bell. Manufactured by Siebe Gorman, these huge metal structures could accommodate a whole gang of men, who carried out heavy labour on the sea bed without special equipment.
Underwater Cutting 1. From the very earliest days of diving methods were sought to cut metal effectively underwater. When most ships and harbours were constructed of wood, this was a minor difficulty, but as the nineteenth century progressed and iron and steel became commonplace it presented a major problem. The only real reasonable solution in early times was to use explosives, in themselves often crude and unpredictable. Too small a charge left the offending structure intact – perhaps even more difficult to remove. Too much could initiate unintentional and widespread damage! During the First World War attempts were made to use explosives in a controlled manner, but with limited success. However, towards the end of the war, Siebe Gorman produced the world’s first practicable underwater electric arc cutting system. It was crude, but given that electricity and water are always uncomfortable bedfellows, moderately effective.
Underwater Cutting 2. The answer to underwater cutting lay in the development of a gas flame system. The end of WWI provided the impetus for this with large numbers of wrecks waiting to be salvaged and dozens of harbours requiring reconstruction. Siebe Gorman, in collaboration with the British Oxygen Company, developed Oxy-hydrogen torches for underwater use. During WW2 the underwater cutting torch came into its own, proving a vital factor in the progress of various military operations. Standard Divers using underwater cutting equipment enabled naval salvage parties to quickly and effectively remove obstacles and blockships from recently captured harbours, allowing supplies to be unloaded for the front. During the Normandy operations underwater cutting proved especially valuable in connection with the repair of damaged landing craft. Divers simply cut away damaged areas and welded in new plates.
Self Contained Equipment Whilst Siebe Gorman Standard Diving equipment was principally designed for use with surface supplied air, attempts were made before the Second World War to use the apparatus in a self-contained role. This involved replacing the heavy lead weights with a compressed oxygen breathing apparatus. To give greater endurance, the oxygen breathed out was passed through a chemical filter, removing waste carbon dioxide, and enabling the remaining oxygen to be ‘re-breathed’. Unfortunately, pure oxygen becomes poisonous at quite moderate depths, and the diver, deprived of his plentiful air supply, could only do limited work. Although Siebe Gorman had made a great effort, the self-contained Standard Diver was not a success. Meanwhile in the Mediterranean, free swimming pioneers such as George Commeinhes and Yves Le Prieur, were perfecting compressed air Scuba, whilst Hans Hass was the first to swim underwater with ‘flippers’ or fins.