Mine Clearance Diver

Service:Surface Fleet
Branch:Warfare
Level:Rating,Apprenticeship
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royal navy clearance diver approaching underwater mine
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High demand role

This is a highly competitive role with a potential long lead time to join.

You may wish to consider joining the Royal Navy as a Royal Marines Commando or an Engineering Technician.

Royal Marines Commando Engineering Technician Marine

At a glance

What you’ll do

From the moment you join, you’ll train to become a world-class diver, wherever you are in the world. Being a Royal Navy Mine Clearance Diver means you’re part bomb disposal master, part sub-aqua specialist. Because there’s only a handful of divers on any ship, you’ll form close bonds with your team and be central to their – and your crewmates’ – safety. This is one of the most physically demanding roles in the Royal Navy. And it’s hugely rewarding too.

If you have questions, talk to us

Your role

Your role

  • Play a central role in maritime counter-terror operations, whether you’re shore-based or on board a ship.
  • Work collaboratively and inspire team morale, from pairing up on dives, to helping prepare your mate’s equipment.
  • Embrace constant challenges, develop your skills, and have the opportunity to progress quickly to a Command role. 
  • Learn how to deal with a range of ordnance, from state-of-the-art mines to World War Two devices.

What you’ll get

Skills for life

Qualifications you'll gain

  • We’ll make a contribution towards GCSEs, Masters degrees, and everything in between
  • Specialist vocational qualifications as your career progresses

Skills you'll develop

  • The ability to work accurately and calmly under extreme pressure in challenging and potentially dangerous situations
  • How to use hydraulic tools and hand tools to conduct basic underwater engineering
  • Various search methods on air and mixed gas diving life support equipment while working to a maximum depth of 60 metres

Career progression

What you'll need

Eligibility

  • Aged 18 to 32
  • You must be a United Kingdom citizen or British Dual National. Dual Nationality restrictions do apply
  • You must have lived in the UK for 5 years continuously prior to application
  • A Body Mass Index (BMI) between 18 and 28 (between 17 and 27 if under 18)
  • Pass the Naval Swimming Test
  • A full UK Driving Licence covering manual vehicles must be held when you apply
     

Skills and interests

  • An ability to thrive in high-pressure situations
  • A love of teamwork
  • A passion for life at sea
  • A sense of adventure
  • A high level of physical and mental fitness
Check Eligibility

Starting your career

Joining process

Once you’ve confirmed your eligibility, the joining process is as follows:

  • Submit an application

    Once you’ve registered your interest and have satisfied the basic eligibility criteria, you will be sent an online application form

  • Defence Aptitude Assessment (DAA)

    You’ll be tested on: Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Work Rate, Spatial Reasoning, Electrical Comprehension and Mechanical Comprehension.
    To prepare, you can practise the DAA

  • Interview

    A formal interview to talk through your suitability for the role. This is normally conducted using your own device over the Shine video platform

  • Diving medical test

    Specific to the rigours of being a diver

  • Pre-Joining Fitness Test Plus (PJFT+)

    Three circuits of 20 x burpees, 30 x sit ups, 20 x press ups and a one minute plank. On completion of the three circuits you will have to perform a set of five pull ups. You will do this at a fitness centre near you

  • Candidate Preparation Course (CPC)

  This four-day induction to life in the Royal Navy, including a Swimming Test and fitness assessment is a pass or fail course.
As a Diver Candidate you will be expected to demonstrate a higher level of fitness than all other Royal Navy candidates.  

  • Start training

Once you’ve passed a Security Check, you’ll be offered a place at HMS Raleigh


Initial training

Your Royal Navy career begins with 10 weeks’ basic training at HMS Raleigh, a shore base in Torpoint, Cornwall. The discipline, teamwork, organisational, firefighting and weapon handling skills you learn here will stay with you right through your career.

Aim to get as fit as possible before you arrive, and ensure you adhere to the strict Mine Clearance Diver fitness levels. Being a Diver is such a physically demanding job, you’ll need to maintain a high level of fitness during your career, and will ideally have previous diving experience.

 

On successful completion of Initial Naval Training you will be required to pass the 2.5 day Pre Diving Assessment (PDA); this will assess your fitness and suitability to be a Navy diver.


Professional training

Once you’ve got the essential military and maritime skills under your belt, it’s time to start your specialist training.

During your 21 weeks of specialist diving training, you will:

  • Practice diving in Portsmouth Harbour
  • Learn the theory behind all the equipment you use
  • Train in open-water search techniques, beach reconnaissance, mine clearance diving and basic mine warfare
  • Use the latest equipment to dive to your maximum depth
  • Gain underwater video and engineering skills