The Fleet Diving Group is based in Portsmouth and consists of three highly specialised and mobile diving units. They provide a worldwide capability to support mine countermeasures and amphibious operations, as well as having a land bomb disposal role for deployment overseas. Specialist skills within this group include parachuting, long range diver insertions, very shallow water mine countermeasures, conventional ordnance disposal and deep Mine Countermeasures (MCM) diving
Fleet Diving Unit 1 (FDU1) consists of a group of specialist personnel kept at a very high degree of readiness. Individuals are highly trained and qualified in parachute insertion techniques. The unit has a submarine search and rescue role and also assists in the Operational Sea Training of the surface and submarine fleets.
FDU 2 specialises in Very Shallow Water VSW MCM diving and is proficient in beach surveying techniques as a precursor to any amphibious operation. Recent advances in technology have speeded up this laborious process considerably and the unit is at the forefront of developing cutting edge procedures in this field.
FDU 3 have a special responsibility for deep MCM diving. Personnel are trained to dive down to 80 metres in order to identify and dispose of sea mines during MCM operations. Both FDU 2 and FDU 3 are deployable Worldwide in support of Royal Navy operations and have been involved in numerous tasks in each of their respective specialist areas.
A recent development in the role of the Fleet Diving Group is an increased responsibility for Underwater Force Protection (UWFP). UWFP involves the searching of ships' hulls as well as ports and jetties in order to counter the underwater terrorist threat. The FDG provides support for the Royal Navy around the World in this capacity.