Top Navy Diver Flies To Italy In Grim But Vital Costa Concordia Mission

Lieutenant Commander Kevin Stockton will meet with experts from Italy, Germany, Sweden and Denmark to discuss the options open to divers in what is now the sixth week since the liner keeled over off the coast of Isola del Giglio on January 13.

His swift departure for the Italian capital follows contact made by the Italian authorities to the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. Senior officers decided immediately the Lt Cdr Stockton was the right man for the job.

The Royal Navy is keen to stress that the talks are only at the preliminary stage and that Stockton will return to Britain on Friday whatever the outcome.

Lt Cdr Stockton is Commanding Officer of the Northern Diving Group, which is also the Royal Navy’s crack bomb disposal unit.

In December, they won the Royal Navy’s 2011 Diving Unit Effectiveness Trophy after responding to 120 Explosive Ordnance Device call outs in the year, including crucial forensic work on the Celtic postal bombs investigation.

In that case, they dismantled the packages by hand, photographing and x-raying them before handing them over scientists and detectives.

And, in another incident, they were airlifted to a nuclear submarine in the Atlantic and worked for 36 hours non-stop to free a fouled propulsor and allow the submarine to return to patrol as quickly as possible.

Two divers are always on ten minutes notice to deploy anywhere for IED disposal and within 24 hours a five man team can be sent anywhere in the world for Fleet maintenance and repairs.