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87-632: The Underwater Demolition Team ( UDT ), or frogmen , were amphibious units created by the United States Navy during World War II with specialized missions. They were predecessors of the Navy's current SEAL teams . Their primary WWII function began with reconnaissance and underwater demolition of natural or man-made obstacles obstructing amphibious landings . Postwar they transitioned to scuba gear changing their capabilities. With that they came to be considered more elite and tactical during

174-524: A destroyer and an oil tanker , but all six frogmen were captured. Frogmen were deployed by stealth in Algeciras , Spain, from where they launched a number of limpet-mine attacks on Allied shipping at anchor off Gibraltar. Some time later they refitted the interned Italian tanker Olterra as a mothership for human torpedoes, carrying out three assaults on ships at Gibraltar between late 1942 and early 1943, sinking six of them. Nazi Germany raised

261-722: A 53 percent casualty rate. NCDUs were also assigned to Operation Dragoon , the invasion of southern France , with a few units from Normandy participating there too. With Europe invaded Admiral Turner requisitioned all available NCDUs from Fort Pierce for integration into the UDTs for the Pacific. However, the first NCDUs, 1–10, had been staged at Turner City, Florida Island in the Solomon Islands during January 1944. A few were temporarily attached to UDTs. Later NCDUs 1–10 were combined to form Underwater Demolition Team Able. This team

348-622: A Marine landing. The mission resulted in several of the SEALs becoming ill as Somalia's waters were contaminated with raw sewage. In 1978, the U.S. Navy Special Operations Officer (1140) community was established by combining Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and Expendable Ordnance Management officers with Diving and Salvage officers. Special Ops Officers would become qualified in at lease two functional areas - normally EOD or Diving and Salvage, and Expendable Ordnance management. Officers trained in diving and salvage techniques were now allowed to follow

435-592: A NCDU Command was created for NCDUs: 11, 22–30, 41–46, 127–8, 130–42 The Germans had constructed elaborate defenses on the French coast. These included steel posts driven into the beach and topped with explosive charges. Large 3-ton steel barricades called Belgian Gates and hedgehogs were placed throughout the tidal zone. Behind which was a network of reinforced: coastal artillery , mortar and machine gun positions. The Scouts and Raiders spent weeks gathering information during nightly surveillance missions up and down

522-531: A career pattern that took advantage of their training, and Unrestricted line officers were now permitted to specialize in salvage, with repeat tours of duty, and advanced training. Career patterns were developed to ensure that officers assigned to command were seasoned in salvage operations and well qualified in the technical aspects of their trade. "The combination gave a breadth and depth of professionalism to Navy salvage that had not been possible before." Waipio Too Many Requests If you report this error to

609-857: A copy called the Chariot and formed a unit called the Experimental Submarine Flotilla , which later merged with the Special Boat Service . A number of Chariot operations were attempted, most notably Operation Title in October 1942, an attack on the German battleship Tirpitz , which had to be abandoned when a storm hit the fishing boat which was towing the Chariots into position. Operation Principal in January 1943

696-753: A diver with closed circuit oxygen rebreathing equipment will stay within a depth limit of 20 feet (6.1 m) with limited deeper excursions to a maximum of 50 feet (15 m) because of the risk of seizure due to acute oxygen toxicity. The use of nitrox or mixed gas rebreathers can extend this depth range considerably, but this may be beyond the scope of operations, depending on the unit. US and UK forces use these official definitions for mission descriptors: Anti-frogman techniques are security methods developed to protect watercraft, ports and installations, and other sensitive resources both in or nearby vulnerable waterways from potential threats or intrusions by frogmen. Frogmen on clandestine operations use rebreathers , as

783-688: A large sign to greet the Marines on the beach. Team 21 was all fleet and the sign said greetings from "USN" UDT 21. The next day Begor took UDT 21 to Yokosuka Naval Base. There the team cleared the docks for the first U.S. warship to dock in Japan, USS  San Diego . The team remained in Tokyo Bay until 8 Sept when it was tasked with locating remaining Kamikaze and two-man submarines at Katsura Wan, Uchiura Wan at Suruga Bay , Sendai , Onohama Shipyards and Choshi . Orders arrived for Begor to return

870-681: A number of frogmen units under the auspices of both the Kriegsmarine and the Abwehr , often relying on Italian expertise and equipment. In June 1944, a K-Verband frogman unit failed to destroy the bridge at Bénouville , now known as Pegasus Bridge , during the Battle of Normandy . In March 1945, a frogman squad from the Brandenburgers was deployed from their base in Venice to destroy

957-543: A precursor of the modern diving rebreather. For this new way of underwater diving, the Italian frogmen trained in La Spezia , Liguria , using the newly available Genoese free diving spearfishing equipment; diving mask , snorkel , swimfins , and rubber dry suit , the first specially made diving watch (the luminescent Panerai ), and the new A.R.O. scuba unit. This was a revolutionary alternative way to dive, and

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1044-503: A present and urgent requirement". The first phase began at Amphibious Training Base (ATB) Solomons, Maryland with the establishment of Operational Naval Demolition Unit No. 1. Six Officers and eighteen enlisted men reported from the Seabees dynamiting and demolition school at Camp Peary for a four-week course. Those Seabees were immediately sent to participate in the invasion of Sicily where they were divided in three groups that landed on

1131-603: A single USN beach party received a unit award either. On D-plus 2, when the UDTs set foot on beaches that were under a USMC assault, any unit award they received should have come under the USMC award protocol. The USMC Iwo Jima PUC/NUC was a mass award with the PUC going to assault units and the NUC going to support units. UDTs also served at Eniwetok , Ulithi , Leyte , Lingayen Gulf , Zambales , Labuan , and Brunei Bay. At Lingayen UDT 9

1218-462: A thousand prisoners were taken, including the Byzantine admiral, Niketas, with many of his officers, as well as a heavy Indian sword which bore an inscription indicating that it had once belonged to Muhammad . The Hungarian Chronicon Pictum claims that Henry III 's 1052 invasion of Hungary was defeated by a skillful diver who sabotaged Henry's supply fleet. The unexpected sinking of the ships

1305-596: A translation of the word frogman in their official names, e.g., Denmark's Frømandskorpset ; others call themselves "combat divers" or similar. Tactical diving is a branch of professional diving carried out by armed forces and tactical units. They may be divided into: These groups may overlap, and the same men may serve as assault divers and work divers, such as the Australian Clearance Diving Branch (RAN) . The range of operations performed by these operatives includes: Typically,

1392-625: Is confirmed by German chronicles. On 4 November 1918, during World War I, Italian frogmen sunk the Austro-Hungarian ship Viribus Unitis . Italy started World War II with a commando frogman force already trained. Britain, Germany, the United States, and the Soviet Union started commando frogman forces during World War II. The word frogman appeared first in the stage name The Fearless Frogman of Paul Boyton , who since

1479-462: Is described: "They would dive from their own ship and swim over to the enemy ship; they would fasten ropes to its rudder, along which earthenware pots containing Greek fire were then made to slide over to the enemy ship, and shattered on the sternpost." Apparently, this tactic succeeded in destroying many Byzantine vessels, and the battle ended in a major Fatimid victory; according to the Arab historians,

1566-646: Is mentioned by Aristotle (4th century BC). The earliest descriptions of frogmen in war are found in Thucydides ' History of the Peloponnesian War . The first instance was in 425 BC, when the Athenian fleet besieged the Spartans on the small island of Sphacteria. The Spartans managed to get supplies from the mainland by underwater swimmers towing submerged sacks of supplies. In another incident of

1653-531: The Army and Navy jointly established the Amphibious Scout and Raider School at Fort Pierce , Florida . Here Lieutenant Commander Phil H. Bucklew , the "Father of Naval Special Warfare", helped organize and train what became the Navy's 'first group' to specialize in amphibious raids and tactics. The need for intelligence gathering prior to landings became paramount following the amphibious assault at

1740-647: The Army Engineers passed down demolition jobs to the U.S. Navy. It then became the Navy's responsibility to clear any obstacles and defenses in the near shore area. A memorial to the founding of the UDT has been built at Bellows Air Force Station near the original Amphibious Training Base (ATB) in Oahu. In early May 1943, a two-phase "Naval Demolition Project" was ordered by the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) "to meet

1827-706: The Auto Respiratore ad Ossigeno (A.R.O), a development of the Dräger oxygen self-contained breathing apparatus designed for the mining industry and of the Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus made by Siebe, Gorman & Co and by Bergomi, designed for escaping from sunken submarines. This was used from about 1920 for spearfishing by Italian sport divers, modified and adapted by the Italian navy engineers for safe underwater use and built by Pirelli and SALVAS from about 1933, and so became

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1914-527: The Battle of Tarawa in November 1943. Although Navy and Marine Corps planners had identified coral as an issue, they incorrectly assumed landing craft would be able to crawl over the coral. Marines were forced to exit their craft in chest deep water a thousand yards from shore, with many men drowning due to the irregularities of the reefs and Japanese gunners inflicting heavy U.S. casualties. After that experience, Rear Admiral Kelley Turner , Commander of

2001-469: The Gallipoli Campaign of World War I . This contributed to the development and experimentation of new landing techniques in the mid-1930s. In August 1941, landing trials were performed and one hazardous operation led to Army Second Lieutenant Lloyd E. Peddicord being assigned the task of analyzing the need for a human intelligence (HUMINT) capability. When the U.S. entered World War II,

2088-517: The Korean and Vietnam Wars . UDTs were pioneers in underwater demolition , closed-circuit diving , combat swimming , riverine warfare and midget submarine (dry and wet submersible) operations. They later were tasked with ensuring recovery of space capsules and astronauts after splash down in the Mercury , Gemini and Apollo space flight programs. Commando training was added making them

2175-592: The Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine which had been captured by the US Army in the Battle of Remagen . Seven frogmen swam 17 kilometres (11 mi) downriver to the bridge carrying explosives, but were spotted by Canal Defence Lights . Four died, two from hypothermia , and the rest were captured. The British Royal Navy had captured an Italian human torpedo during a failed attack on Malta; they developed

2262-694: The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) (after already being rejected by the U.S. Navy) in a pool at a hotel in Washington D.C. OSS not only bought into the concept, they hired Lambertsen to lead the program and build up the dive element of their Maritime Unit . The OSS was the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency ; the maritime element still exists inside the CIA's Special Activities Division . John Spence , an enlisted member of

2349-481: The Peleliu assignment while UDT 8 went to Angaur . The officers were almost all CEC and the enlisted were Seabees. At formation UDT 10 was assigned 5 officers and 24 enlisted that had trained as OSS Operational Swimmers (Maritime Unit: Operational Swimmer Group II). They were led by a Lt. A.O. Chote Jr., who became UDT 10's commanding officer. The men were multi-service: Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy but

2436-697: The U.S. invasion of Panama , a team of four U.S. Navy SEALs using rebreathers conducted a combat swimmer attack on the Presidente Porras , a gunboat and yacht belonging to Manuel Noriega . The commandos attached explosives to the vessel as it was tied to a pier in the Panama Canal , escaping only after being attacked with grenades. Three years later during Operation Restore Hope , members of SEAL Team One swam to shore in Somalia to measure beach composition, water depth, and shore gradient ahead of

2523-517: The UDT mission model evolved to daylight reconnaissance, wearing swim trunks, fins, and masks. The immediate success of the UDTs made them an indispensable part of all future amphibious landings. A UDT was organized with approximately sixteen officers and eighty enlisted. One Marine and one Army officer were liaisons within each team. They were deployed in every major amphibious landing after Tarawa with 34 teams eventually being commissioned. Teams 1–21 were

2610-411: The V Amphibious Corps (VAC), directed Seabee Lt. Crist (CEC) to come up with a means to deal with the coral and the men to do it. Lt. Crist staged 30 officers and 150 enlisted men from the 7th Naval Construction Regiment at Waipio Amphibious Operating Base on Oahu to form the nucleus of a reconnaissance and demolition training program. It is here that the UDTs of the Pacific were born. Later in war,

2697-474: The reef kept them from ascertaining conditions both in the water and on the beach as had been anticipated. In keeping with the Seabee traditions of: (1) doing whatever it takes to accomplish the job and (2) not always following military rules to get it done, UDT 1 did both: the fatigues and boots came off. Ensign Lewis F. Luehrs and Seabee Chief Bill Acheson had anticipated that they would not be able to get

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2784-605: The 146th, 277th and 299th Combat Engineers to prepare for the landing. Each Unit had five Combat engineers attached to it. The first 10 NCDUs divided into three groups. The senior officer, by rank, was the commanding officer of Group III, Lieutenant Smith (CEC). He assumed command in an unofficial capacity. His Group III worked on experimental demolitions and developed the Hagensen Pack.(an innovation that used 2.5-pound (1.1 kg) of tetryl placed into rubber tubes that could be twisted around obstacles) As more teams arrived

2871-520: The 1870s broke records in long distance swimming to demonstrate a newly invented rubber immersion suit , with an inflated hood. The first modern frogmen were the World War II Italian commando frogmen of Decima Flottiglia MAS (now "ComSubIn": Comando Raggruppamento Subacquei e Incursori Teseo Tesei ) which formed in 1938 and was first in action in 1940. Originally these divers were called " Uomini Gamma " because they were members of

2958-569: The 1982 Falklands War , the Argentinian Naval Intelligence Service planned an attack on British warships at Gibraltar. Code named Operation Algeciras , three frogmen, recruited from a former anti-government insurgent group, were to plant mines on the ships' hulls. The operation was abandoned when the divers were arrested by Spanish police and deported. In 1985, the French nuclear weapons tests at Moruroa in

3045-462: The 301st CB as blasting officers. The 301st specialized in Harbor dredging. It saved UDT teams from blasting channels and harbor clearance, but it required its own blasters. Admiral Turner ordered the formation of nine teams, six for V AC and three for III Amphibious Corps. Seabees made up the majority of the men in teams 1–9, 13 and 15. The officers of those teams were primarily CEC (Seabees). UDT 2

3132-525: The British harbour at Gibraltar , where using human torpedoes to penetrate the defences, sank three merchant ships before escaping through neutral Spain. An even more successful attack, the Raid on Alexandria , was mounted on 19 December on the harbour at Alexandria , again using human torpedoes. The raid resulted in disabling the battleships HMS  Queen Elizabeth and HMS  Valiant together with

3219-547: The Fort Pierce NCDU or Scouts and Raiders schools, Seabees, Marines, and Army soldiers. When Teams 1 and 2 were formed they were "provisional" and trained by a Marine Corps Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion that had nothing to do with the Fort Pierce program. After a successful mission at Kwajalein, where 2 UDT men stripped down to swim trunks and effectively gathered the intelligence Admiral Turner desired,

3306-572: The French coast. Replicas of the Belgian Gates were constructed on the south coast of England for the NCDUs to practice demolitions on. It was possible to blow a gate to pieces, but that only created a mass of tangled iron creating more of an obstacle. The NCDUs found that the best method was to blast the structural joints of a gate so that it fell down flat. The NCDU teams (designated Demolitions Gap-Assault teams) would come in at low tide to clear

3393-416: The NCDUs and LtCdr Kauffmans recruiting them from the Seabee dynamiting and demolition school. UDTs had to meet the military's standard age guidelines, Seabees older could not volunteer. In preparation for the invasion of Japan the UDTs created a cold water training center and mid-1945 UDTs had to meet a "new physical standard". UDT 9 lost 70% of the team to this change. The last UDT demolition operation of

3480-463: The NCDUs and UDTs. On 20 August 1945 USS  Begor embarked UDT 21 at Guam as a component of the U.S. occupation force heading for Japan. Nine days later UDT 21 became the first U.S military unit to set foot on Japanese home soil when it reconned the beaches at Futtsu-misaki Point in Tokyo Bay . Their assessment was that the area was well suited for landing U.S. amphibious forces. UDT 21 made

3567-409: The NCDUs charges opened gaps in the defenses. As the infantry came ashore, some used obstacles for cover that had demolition charges on them. The greatest difficulty was on Omaha Beach. By nightfall thirteen of the planned sixteen gaps were open. Of the 175 NCDU men that landed, 31 were killed and 60 were wounded. The attack on Utah Beach was better, four dead and eleven wounded. Overall, NCDUs suffered

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3654-571: The Navy had UDT 8 carry out a mission at Jinaen, Korea 8–27 September 1945. When UDT 9 arrived back in the States it was made one of the two post-War teams and redesignated UDT Baker. Frogmen The term frogman is occasionally used to refer to a civilian scuba diver, such as in a police diving role. In the United Kingdom, police divers have often been called "police frogmen". Some countries' tactical diver organizations include

3741-510: The Navy realized that in order to strike at the Axis powers the U.S. forces would need to perform a large number of amphibious attacks. The Navy decided that men would have to go in to reconnoiter the landing beaches, locate obstacles and defenses, as well as guide the landing forces ashore. In August 1942, Peddicord set up a recon school for his new unit, Navy Scouts and Raiders , at the amphibious training base at Little Creek, Virginia . In 1942,

3828-580: The OSS was not allowed to operate in the Pacific Theater . Admiral Nimitz needed swimmers and did approve their transfer from the OSS to his operational and administrative control. Most of their OSS gear was stored as it was not applicable to UDT work however, their swimfins came with them. The other UDTs quickly adopted them. UDT 14 was the first all-Navy team (one of three from the Pacific fleet) even though its CO and XO were CEC and some of Team Able

3915-792: The Pacific Ocean was being contested by environmental protesters led by the Greenpeace campaign ship, Rainbow Warrior . The Action Division of the French Directorate-General for External Security devised a plan to sink the Rainbow Warrior while it was berthed in harbor at Auckland in New Zealand . Two divers from the Division posed as tourists and attached two limpet mines to the ship's hull;

4002-500: The U.S. Marines, and U.S. Army combat engineers . Training commenced with one grueling week designed to "separate the men from the boys". Some said that "the men had sense enough to quit, leaving Kauffman with the boys." It was and is still considered the first " Hell Week ". In early November 1943 NCDU-11 was assigned as the advance NCDU party for Operation Overlord . They would be joined in England by 33 more NCDUs. They trained with

4089-900: The U.S. Navy, was the first man selected to join the OSS group. In April 1956, Commander Lionel Crabb , a wartime pioneer of Royal Navy combat diving, disappeared during a covert inspection of the hull of the Soviet Navy Sverdlov -class cruiser , Ordzhonikidze , while she was moored in Portsmouth Harbour . The Shayetet 13 commandos of the Israeli Navy have carried out a number of underwater raids on harbors. They were initially trained by veterans of Xª MAS and used Italian equipment. As part of Operation Raviv in 1969, eight frogmen used two human torpedoes to enter Ras Sadat naval base near Suez , where they destroyed two motor torpedo boats with mines. During

4176-581: The UDTs, Koehler was made the commanding officer of the Naval Combat Demolition Training and Experimental Base on Maui. Admiral Turner also brought on LCDR Draper Kaufmann as a combat officer. It became obvious more men were needed than the NCDUs would supply and Cmdr. Kauffman was no longer recruiting Seabees, so Admiral Nimitz put out a call to the Pacific Fleet for volunteers. They would form three teams; UDT 14 would be

4263-575: The VAC Recon Battalion, and several Marine recon missions. In 1942 the Seabees became a completely new branch of the United States War Department. The Marine Corps provided both training and an organizational model. Something that either was not shared or the Seabees chose to ignore or considered not important was the keeping of logs, journals and records. The Seabees brought this record keeping approach with to

4350-500: The assault debacle experienced at Tarawa . Turner recognized that amphibious operations required intelligence of underwater obstacles. The personnel in teams 1-15 were primarily Seabees that had started out in the NCDUs. UDT training was at the Waipio Amphibious Operating Base , under V Amphibious Corps operational and administrative control. Most of the instructors and trainees were graduates of

4437-577: The beach was so clogged with war debris that there was no place for landing craft to get ashore. Lt Cmdr. E. Hochuli of UDT 12 volunteered his team to go deal with the problem and teams 13 and 14 were ordered to go with. Lt Cmdr. Vincent Moranz of UDT 13 was "reluctant, and radioed that his men ... were not salvage-men. It is reported that Capt. (Bull) Hanlon, Underwater Demolition Operations Commanding Officer radioed back that he did not want anything salvaged, he wanted that beach cleared." The difference in attitude between Hochuli and Moranz would be remembered in

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4524-447: The beach. This disaster made it clear to Admiral Turner that pre-assault intelligence was needed to avoid similar difficulties in future operations. To that end, Turner ordered the formation of underwater demolition teams to do reconnaissance of beach conditions and do removal of submerged obstructions for Amphibious operations. After a thorough review, V Amphibious Corps found that the only people having any applicable experience with

4611-501: The beaches near Licata , Gela and Scoglitti . Also in May, the Navy created Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs) tasked with eliminating beach obstructions in advance of amphibious assaults, going ashore in an LCRS inflatable boat . Each NCDU consisted of five enlisted men led by a single, junior (CEC) officer. In early May, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest J. King , picked Lieutenant Commander Draper L. Kauffman to lead

4698-410: The bubbles released by open-circuit scuba would reveal them to surface lookouts and make a noise which hydrophones could easily detect. A few different explanations have been given for the origin of the term frogman. In ancient Roman and Greek times, there were instances of men swimming or diving for combat, sometimes using a hollow plant stem or a long bone as a snorkel . Diving with snorkel

4785-640: The coral were men in the Naval Construction Battalions . The Admiral tasked Lt. Thomas C. Crist (CEC) of CB 10 to develop a method for blasting coral under combat conditions and putting together a team for that purpose. Lt. Crist started by recruiting others he had blasted coral with in CB 10 and by the end November 1943 he had assembled close to 30 officers and 150 enlisted men from the 7th Naval Construction Regiment, at Waipio Amphibious Operating Base on Maui . The first operation after Tarawa

4872-467: The divers stable. Also, in the writings of Al-Maqrizi , it is also claimed that the naval forces of the Fatimid Caliphate , in an engagement with Byzantine forces off the coast of Messina henceforth referred to as the Battle of the Straits , employed a novel strategy with strong similarities to modern-day frogmen tactics. In the writings of Heinz Halm , who studied and translated the writings of Al-Maqrizi and other contemporary Islamic historians, it

4959-432: The existence of the UDTs until post war and when they did they gave credit to Lt. Commander Kauffman and the Seabees. During WWII the Navy did not have a rating for the UDTs nor did they have an insignia. Those men with the CB rating on their uniforms considered themselves Seabees that were doing underwater demolition. They did not call themselves "UDTs" or " Frogmen " but rather "Demolitioneers" which had carried over from

5046-431: The first diving set known as SCUBA was invented in 1939 by Christian Lambertsen , who originally called it the Lambertsen Amphibious Respirator Unit (LARU) and patented it in 1940. He later renamed it the Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, which, contracted to SCUBA, eventually became the generic term for both open circuit and rebreather autonomous underwater breathing equipment. Lambertsen demonstrated it to

5133-400: The first head of training. Most of the procedures from Fort Pierce were changed, replaced with an emphasis on developing swimmers, daylight reconnaissance, and no lifelines. The uniform of the day changed to diving masks , swim trunks, and a Ka-Bar , creating the UDT image as "Naked Warriors" (swim-fins were added after UDT 10 introduced them). At Saipan and Tinian UDTs 5, 6, and 7 were given

5220-438: The first of them. Recruiting was such an issue that three Lt. Cmdrs who had no background in demolition were transferred from USN Beach Battalions to command UDTs 11, 12, and 13. Admiral Turner requested the establishment of the Naval Combat Demolition Training and Experimental Base at Kihei independent of Fort Pierce, expanding upon what had been learned from UDT 1 at Kwajalein. Operations began in February 1944 with Lt. Crist

5307-446: The forerunner to the United States Navy SEAL program that exists today. By 1983, the UDTs were re-designated as SEAL Teams or Swimmer Delivery Vehicle Teams (SDVTs); however, some UDTs, had already been re-designated into UCTs and special boat units prior. SDVTs have since been re-designated SEAL Delivery Vehicle Teams . The United States Navy studied the problems encountered by the disastrous Allied amphibious landings during

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5394-415: The intel Admiral Turner wanted following USMC Recon protocol and had worn swim trunks beneath their fatigues. Stripping down, they swam 45 minutes undetected across the reef returning with sketches of gun emplacements and other intelligence. Still in their trunks, they were taken directly to Rear Admiral Turner's flagship to report. Afterwards, Turner concluded that the only way to get this kind of information

5481-450: The missions: day time for Saipan and night for Tinian . At Saipan UDT 7 developed a method to recover swimmers on the move without making the recovery vessel a stationary target. For Guam UDTs 3, 4, and 6 were the teams assigned. When it was over the Seabee-dominated teams had made naval history . For the Marianas operations Admiral Turner recommended over sixty Silver Stars and over three hundred Bronze Stars with Vs for UDTs 3–7 That

5568-432: The obstacles. Their mission was to open sixteen 50-foot (15 m) wide corridors for the landing at each of the U.S. landing zones ( Omaha Beach and Utah Beach ). Unfortunately, the plans were not executed as laid out. The preparatory air and naval bombardment was ineffective, leaving many German guns to fire on the assault. Also, tidal conditions caused difficulties for the NCDUs. Despite heavy German fire and casualties,

5655-417: The operation due to the death of one of their men; hence, their mission was considered a failure. UDT 11 went back the next day and took out the remaining poles after-which the team remained to guide landing-craft to the beach. By war's end 34 teams had been formed with teams 1–21 having actually been deployed. The Seabees provided half of the men in the teams that saw service. The U.S. Navy did not publicize

5742-414: The others seriously damaged or disabled. The LCI(G) crews suffered more than the UDTs with the skipper of one boat earning a Medal of Honor . The next day a Japanese bomb hit UDT 15's APD, USS  Blessman killing fifteen and wounding 23. It was the largest loss suffered by the UDTs during the war. On D-plus 2 the beachmaster requested help. There were so many broached or damaged landing craft and

5829-413: The reef. The Amtracs carrying the first wave crossed the reef successfully. The LCVPs carrying the second wave ran aground, disembarking their Marines several hundred yards to shore in full combat gear, under heavy fire. Many drowned or were killed before making the beach, forced to wade across treacherously uneven coral. The first wave was left fighting without reinforcements and took heavy casualties on

5916-419: The resulting explosion sank the ship and killed a Netherlands citizen on board. Two agents from the team, but not the divers, were arrested by the New Zealand Police and later convicted of manslaughter . The French government finally admitted responsibility two months later. In the U.S. Navy, frogmen were officially phased out in 1983 and all active duty frogmen were transferred to SEAL units. In 1989, during

6003-471: The same war, in 415 BC, the Athenians used combat divers in the port of Syracuse, Sicily . The Syracuseans had planted vertical wooden poles in the bottom around their port, to prevent the Athenian triremes from entering. The poles were submerged, not visible above the sea level. The Athenians used various means to cut these obstacles, including divers with saws. It is believed that the underwater sawing required snorkels for breathing and diving weights to keep

6090-598: The start of the transition from the usual heavy underwater diving equipment of the hard hat divers which had been in general use since the 18th century, to self-contained divers, free of being tethered by an air line and rope connection. After Italy declared war , the Decima Flottiglia MAS ( Xª MAS ) attempted several frogmen attacks on British naval bases in the Mediterranean between June 1940 and July 1941, but none were successful, because of equipment failure or early detection by British forces. On September 10, 1941, eight Xª MAS frogmen were inserted by submarine close to

6177-450: The team to San Diego on 27 September. From 21 to 26 September UDT 11 was at Nagasaki and reported men getting sick from the stench. With the war over thousands of Japanese troops remained in China . The issue was given to the Marine's III Marine Amphibious Corps. UDT 9 was assigned to Operation Beleaguer to recon the landings of the 1st Marine Division at Taku and Qingdao the first two weeks of October 1945. On their way to China

6264-484: The team would remain in Hawaii until April 1945. At that time the Seabees of UDT 3 were transferred to Fort Pierce to be the instructors there. In all they would train teams 12 to 22. Lt. Cmdr. Crist would be sent back to Hawaii. D-minus 2 at Iwo Jima UDTs 12, 13, 14, and 15 reconnoitered the beaches from twelve LCI (G) with just one man wounded. They did come under intense heavy fire that sank three of their LCI(G) with

6351-463: The teams that had deployed operationally, with slightly over half of the officers and enlisted coming from the Seabees in those teams. The remaining teams were not deployed due to the war ending. Prior to Tarawa , both Naval and Marine Corps planners had identified coral as an issue for amphibious operations . At Tarawa the neap tide created draft issues for the Higgins boats (LCVPs) clearing

6438-421: The top secret special unit called " Gruppo Gamma ", which originated from the kind of Pirelli rubber skin-suit nicknamed muta gamma used by these divers. Later they were nicknamed " Uomini Rana ," Italian for "frog men", because of an underwater swimming frog kick style, similar to that of frogs, or because their fins looked like frog's feet. This special corps used an early oxygen rebreather scuba set ,

6525-637: The training. The first six classes graduated from "Area E" at the Seabee's Camp Peary between May and mid-July. Training was moved to Fort Pierce, Florida, where the first class began mid-July 1943. Despite the move and having the Scouts Raiders base close by, Camp Peary was Kauffman's primary source of recruits. "He would go up to Camp Peary's Dynamite School and assemble the Seabees in the auditorium saying: "I need volunteers for hazardous, prolonged and distant duty." Kauffman's other volunteers came from

6612-416: The unit awards. The three teams worked for five days clearing the waters edge. While the teams all did the same job under the same conditions the Navy gave them different unit awards: UDT 12 a PUC , UDT 14 a NUC and UDT 13 nothing. The USMC ground commanders felt that every man that set foot on the island during the assault had an award coming. The Navy did not share this point of view, besides UDT 13 not

6699-475: The war was on 4 July 1945 at Balikpapan , Borneo . The UDTs continued to prepare for the invasion of Japan until VJ Day when the need for their services ceased. With the draw-down from the war two half-strength UDTs were retained, one on each coast: UDT Baker and UDT Easy. However, the UDTs were the only special troops that avoided complete disbandment after the war, unlike the OSS Maritime Unit,

6786-488: Was Operation Flintlock in the Marshall Islands. It began with the island of Kwajalein in January 1944. Admiral Turner wanted the intelligence and to get it, the men that Lt. Crist had staged were used to form Underwater Demolition Teams: UDT 1 and UDT 2. Initially, the team commanders were Cmdr. E. D. Brewster (CEC) and Lt. Crist (CEC). However, Lt. Crist was made Ops officer of Team 2 and Lt. John T. Koehler

6873-528: Was aboard the USS ; Belknap when she was hit by a Kamikaze . It cost the team one officer, 7 enlisted, 3 MIA and 13 wounded. The largest UDT operation of WWII was the invasion of Okinawa , involving teams 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, and 18 (nearly 1,000 men). All prior missions had been in warm tropic waters but, the waters around Okinawa were cool enough that long immersion could cause hypothermia and severe cramps. Since thermal protection for swimmers

6960-545: Was an attack by eight Chariots on La Maddalena and Palermo harbours; although all the Chariots were lost, the new Italian cruiser Ulpio Traiano was sunk. The last and most successful British operation resulted in sinking two liners in Phuket harbour in Thailand in October 1944. Royal Navy divers did not use fins until December 1942. In 1933 Italian companies were already producing underwater oxygen rebreathers, but

7047-426: Was disbanded with NCDUs 2 and 3, plus three others assigned to MacArthur's 7th Amphibious force, and were the only NCDUs remaining at war's end. The other men from Team Able were assigned to numbered UDTs. The first units designated as Underwater Demolition Teams were formed in the Pacific Theater . Rear Admiral Turner , the Navy's amphibious expert, ordered the formation of Underwater Demolition Teams in response to

7134-689: Was incorporated. In the Philippines Leyte Gulf UDTs 10 & 15 reconnoitered beaches at Luzon , teams 3, 4, 5, & 8 were sent to Dulag and teams 6, 9, & 10 went to Tacloban . When UDT 3 returned to Maui the team was made the instructors of the school. Lt Crist was again made Training Officer. Under his direction training was broken into four 2-week blocks with an emphasis on swimming and reconnaissance. There were classes in night operations, unit control, coral and lava blasting in addition to bivouacking, small unit tactics and small arms. Lt Crist would be promoted to Lt Cmdr and

7221-576: Was made the team Commander. As with all Seabee military training, the Marines provided it. A Marine Corps Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion oversaw five weeks further training of the Seabees in UDTs 1 and 2 to prepare for the mission. UDT 1 was tasked with two daylight recons. The men were to follow Marine Corps Recon procedure with each two-man team getting close to the beach in an inflatable boat to make their observations wearing fatigues, boots, d helmets, and life-lined to their boats. Team 1 found that

7308-432: Was not available, UDTs were at risk to these hazards working around Okinawa. Operations included both real reconnaissance and demolition at the landing beaches, and feints to create the illusion of landings in other locations. Pointed poles set into the coral reef protected the beaches on Okinawa. Teams 11 and 16 were sent in to blast the poles. The charges took out all of UDT 11's targets and half of UDT 16's. UDT 16 aborted

7395-451: Was sent to Roi-Namur where Lt. Crist earned a Silver Star. UDTs 1 and 2 were decommissioned upon return to Hawaii with most of the men transferred to UDTs 3, 4, 5, and 6. Admiral Turner ordered the formation of nine teams, three for III Amphibious Corps and six for V Amphibious Corps (in all Teams 3–11). As more NCDUs arrived in the Pacific they were used to form even more teams. UDT 15 was an all-NCDU team. To implement these changes and grow

7482-417: Was to do what these men had done as individual swimmers, which is what he relayed to Admiral Nimitz . The planning and decisions of Rear Admiral Turner, Ensign Luehrs, and Chief Acheson made Kwajalein a developmental day in UDT history, changing both the mission model and training regimen. Luehrs would make rank and be in UDT 3 until he was made XO of UDT 18. Acheson and three other UDT officers were posted to

7569-533: Was unprecedented in U.S. Naval/Marine Corps history. For UDTs 5 and 7, all officers received silver stars and all the enlisted received bronze stars with Vs for Operation Forager (Tinian). For UDTs 3 and 4 all officers received a silver stars and all the enlisted received bronze stars with Vs for Operation Forager (Guam). Admiral Conolly felt the commanders of teams 3 and 4 (Lt. Crist and Lt. W.G. Carberry) should have received Navy Crosses. Teams 4 & 7 also received Naval Unit Commendations. UDTs 6, 7, and 10 drew

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