Navy News
Direct from the front-line, the official newspaper of the Royal Navy, Navy News, brings you the latest news, features and award winning photos every month.
Clearance divers share highlights of Royal Navy careers to mark 25 years
7 March 2025
Between them, they have more than 100 years of diving experience – from serving on minehunters to recovering iconic pieces of history from below the waves.
Their hard work and efforts in the Royal Navy diving branch have taken them all over the world, working alongside hosts of nations and developing the latest technologies to make seas safer for all who sail them.
Personnel from the Clearance Diving Branch are sharing their career highlights as part of 25 years in the unit and what about the unique Royal Navy role keeps them signed on and belonging to a world beneath the waves.
Leading Diver James Pearson joined the navy in June 1998 and his early career saw him serve on various vessels including HMS Middleton and HMS Sandown, as part of Crew 8 of 2nd Mine Counter Measures Squadron.
Speaking of one moment of his career, he said: “A highlight was my involvement in the recovery of the bells from HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales, two warships lost during World War II.
“As part of a team sent to Singapore, we faced the challenges of the deep and the past.”
In 2015, Pearson took on the role of an instructor, training the Nigerian Navy in underwater force protection. Despite the challenging conditions, the team successfully imparted their knowledge and skills.
One of his most significant achievements was the first 60-meter manned dive in Clearance Diving Life Support Equipment, a ground-breaking feat that pushed the boundaries of diving technology.
Outside the Royal Navy, LD Pearson and fellow diver Petty Officer (Diver) Richard Bailey are into fitness and exploring. In testament to their enduring friendship, they both aim to conquer marathons around the world.
PO (D) Bailey’s career in the Royal Navy has seen him take part in a variety of global operations. He joined the service in November 1990.
The late 1990s took him to Gibraltar and the gruelling task of passing his aptitude tests to serve on ships.
He said: “I was assigned to a foreign service draft to Gibraltar in 1996 and I took my try dive and aptitude for ship’s diver, having passed a brutal aptitude test. I was then loaded onto ship’s diver successfully passing the same year.
“Now keen on diving, in 1997 I passed the Clearance Diver aptitude and eventually in 1999 attended and passed AB (Diving) Professional Qualifying Course.”
During a draft to Fleet Diving Unit 2, PO (D) Bailey specialised as a Very Shallow Water diver and travelled extensively working with NATO nations around the globe. His job also saw him selected to be a supervisor for security swims during the sailing events in Weymouth at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
A standout for him was serving as a maritime IEDD operator in Fleet Diving Unit 3 where he was also a mine exploitation investigation specialist and an FBI trained post blast investigator.
He took the lead on NATO exercises to Ukraine, Norway, Germany and France.
No two days are ever the same in this active line of employment within the Royal Navy.
For Warrant Officer 1 (Diving) Nick Frost, his pathway into the branch started in his hometown in Llandudno, North Wales, with a German World War 2 sea mine.
The then Plymouth Command Diving Unit was sent to deal with the mine and, while serving alongside his father on the lifeboat crew, Nick asked the dive team how to join.
Joining the Royal Navy directly as a diver wasn’t an option at that time so he joined the newly created warfare branch as an operator mechanic (underwater warfare).
He served twice on HMS Argyll, deploying to the West Indies in 1996 and the Mediterranean in 1998, before a short tour on HMS Northumberland.
He started his AB (Diver) Professional Qualifying Course in Feb 1999, completing it in the October of that year.
A highlight of his career came as a Chief Petty Officer (Diver) while serving in the South Diving Unit 1 in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal manager role.
“I was responsible for the Force Generation of SDU1’s EOD roles, and the multi-agency operation of clearing historic conventional and chemical munitions from ranges around the UK,” he said.
“The highlight of that assignment was the sole lead on a 96-hour operation on the Channel Island of Guernsey, dealing with a British WW2 sea mine that had been found in a local woods.
“This diverse operation involved the closing of the island’s air space and required the evacuation of hundreds of personnel before a successful detonation and the situation returned to normal.
“As a result, the EOD team at SDU1 received Guernsey’s Police annual safety award.”
Similar to WO1 Frost, WO2 Sam ‘Nobby’ Clark also joined the Royal Navy in 1989 in a different branch, serving as a marine engineer mechanic for 10 years before making the switch as he called it “replacing the ‘tool bag’ for a ‘dry bag’.
Career drafts and assignments saw him serve on HMS Bangor, Chiddingfold, Penzance and Middleton, as well as operations and deployments to Iraq, the United States, Asia and the Arctic as part of Fleet Diving Unit 2.
He said: “My career focus has always been to conduct diving and Explosive Ordnance Disposal operations globally, with highlights including training with and conducting operations alongside foreign nations and partners, and with continuous opportunities for overseas travel.
“No two days are ever the same in this active line of employment within the Royal Navy.
“My total military service is now 35 years (and counting), with no intention to hang up my fins or bomb suit just yet.”