Have tech divers equaled or surpassed what can be accomplished by US Navy divers?

[Blackwood]

All I know is that most (if not all) tech divers have this aura of Ego/Superiority around them (even if we don't see it ourselves).

Is that what that glowing light that follows me everywhere I go is

 

[Rhone Man]

Have tech divers equaled or surpassed what can be accomplished by US Navy divers?

I very much doubt it, but who the hell knows exactly what the Navy gets up to?

One example which probably illustrates the gulf: there are only eight (or possibly) nine technical divers who are known to have dived at depths greater than 800 feet. Yet years before these guys got there, the Navy published a paper on the use of experimental rebreathers at depths in excess of 850 feet for durations in excess of an hour (the paper includes references to depths as deep as 1,000 feet - long before Nuno Gomes and company got down there).

And if the Navy is comfortable publishing those figures, then you know that they are not talking about something new or cutting edge in terms of their capability.

That is quite a gulf.

 

[JeffG]

Is that what that glowing light that follows me everywhere I go is

Works as a backup light too.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with being motivated by ego ... the most successful people in just about ANY human endeavor are motivated by ego. Those who are successful know how to not let their ego get in the way of their common sense.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Maybe ,but those who are not successful end up dead or worse end up getting their buddies dead too.

I don't think being ego driven in the classic sense is a good thing for a technical diver. Nothing wrong with wanting to explore, expand your personal limits or just engage in an adjustable risk sport to the extent you need to get the psychological effect you want, but as soon as you start to feel you have to prove something, even to yourself, you are just an accident looking for a place to happen.

 

[JeffG]

I very much doubt it, but who the hell knows exactly what the Navy gets up to?

IMO you can't compare recreational tech diving to navy diving.

Navy Diving to Commercial diving maybe.


But Decompression is decompression regardless of what dress you wear.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I have a buddy that was a Navy deep diver. I would ask him questions about diving and lots of info that Padi teaches were not introduced to him at all. He told me this
In the Navy if they have a problem that comes up on board when your diving and you have deco left to do they will not take there time for you. They will try there best but, if you die your a causality of war and a number

Operationally, the Navy does not mormally do repetetive dives and does not do deco dives unless on board recompression facilities are available. Last time I checked it was common on a deco dive to do the stops in water to 40', then the diver is brought up, popped in a chamber and blown back down to finish the deco on board. Part of that is to ensure the ship is able to move in minimum time.

No. Navy divers lock out of vessels such as diving bells or other underwater submersibles, to include submarines, occasionally at depths far beyond the reach of most technical divers. To list only one example...

Bottom line is, the Navy has far more toys, money, and time than most tech divers have, and quite frequently resources and assets determine what you can do!

(That said, the Navy has not done the same sort of exploration as, say, the WKPP divers in Wakulla Springs. The Navy hasn't developed the same level of interests in cave environments.)

As someone else said above, the Navy's approach is much more geared toward producing professional commercial divers than enabling 'tech-reational' diving. IMHO, you're discussing two entirely different worlds.

YMMV,

Doc

Exactly. I know of one example where navy divers locked out of a submarine at 600 plus feet to tap an under water cable. Not something technical divers are prone to do.

Another example would be the deep dives to the 1800 ft range in the mid to late 1970's. Tech divers still don't go that deep.

 

[Juno]

Navy Hard Hat divers do not regularly do the depths and duration commercial divers do.
Navy Scuba or Rebreather divers do not regularly come close to doing the dives tech/cave divers do.
The only thing they may do more extreme are experiments, but their day-to-day divers and missions/tasks don't approach what tech and commercial divers do all the time.

 

[Ana]

WOW.......... Let's us over-analyze every possible use of the word 'ego". This is why tech divers are not like Navy divers or Commercial divers.

The basic definition of ego (the one I was using) "The self as contrasted with another self or the world" That's it.

By the time the tech divers finish defining the issue, the navy diver has orders in hand, and the commercial divers is already at depth, getting things done.

 

[Juno]

Exactly. I know of one example where navy divers locked out of a submarine at 600 plus feet to tap an under water cable. Not something technical divers are prone to do.

.

It was closer to 400 feet. If you were refering to the Halibut.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

Inside the hat of a commercial diver you can almost hear the splash of the stand-by diver the very instant you even look like considering coming back up before completing the task. Big offshore companies have money to make, and a silly diver getting hurt is not going to stop them. Yes it is a lot safer than it used to, but the bottom line continues to be the fact that, if you're not willing to do what they ask you, there is a line of divers (and tenders waiting to get wet) more than ready to go in your place.

I agree that commercial divers are under a lot of pressure to perform. The adage that recreational divers live by that anyone can call a dive for any reason is out the window. There's no calling a dive because something 'doesn't feel right' or because they have a cold, etc. They're expected to get in the water and get the job done, regardless of any 'personal problems' they might be experiencing. And, Buddy... you don't need no stinking buddy. Don't worry, if something goes wrong, we'll drag you to the surface by your umbilical. You've got medical, right?