United States Navy Diver

Navy Diver
Enlisted rating insignia
Issued by	United States Navy
Type	Enlisted/officer rating
Abbreviation	ND
Specialty	Hull

A United States Navy diver or (within the US Navy) navy diver refers to a member of the community of unrestricted line officer (URL officers), civil engineer corps (CEC Officers), Medical Corps officers and enlisted personnel in the United States Navy who are qualified in underwater open/closed circuit breathing apparatus, deep sea type diving apparatus and saturation diving. Personnel in the navy diver (ND rating) are part of the Navy Special Operations (NSO) community. Navy divers serve at several diving platform types including; Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC), Navy Special Operations/Special Warfare commands, Marine Corps dive teams, rescue/salvage and repair diving detachments, saturation diving commands and diving research/development. Some of the mission areas of the navy diver include; deep sea underwater salvage, harbor clearance operations, in-water ship/submarine repair, demolition operations, submarine rescue, SEAL Delivery Vehicle deployment/recovery, saturation diving, experimental diving, underwater construction/welding as well as serving as diving technical experts at SEAL/Marine Corps/and United States Navy EOD diving commands.

The U. S. Navy is the lead agency in military diving technology and training within the US Department of Defense. The foundation of the dive program consists of the Navy Diver (ND) rate for personnel who perform diving as their primary job in the Navy.

The early history of diving in the US Navy parallels that of the other navies of the world. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, the Navy has employed divers in salvage and repair of ships, in construction work, and in military operations.

For the most part, early Navy Divers were swimmers and skin divers, with techniques and missions unchanged since the days of Alexander the Great. During the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay, swimmers were sent in ahead of Admiral Farragut's ships to locate and disarm Confederate mines that had been planted to block the entrance to the bay.

In 1898, navy divers were briefly involved in an international crisis when the second-class armored battleship USS Maine was sunk by a mysterious explosion while anchored in the harbor at Havana, Cuba. Navy divers were sent from Key West to study and report on the wreck. Although a Court of Inquiry was convened, the reason for the sinking was not found.