The Divers Group (AGRUMERG, pt, Agrupamento de Mergulhadores) is the

Portuguese Navy The Portuguese Navy ( pt, Marinha Portuguesa, also known as ''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'' or as ''Armada Portuguesa'') is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Port ...

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

unit. It was created in 2004 through the grouping of the several already existing diving subunits, to exercise administrative, logistical and operational control and management, over all diver units and personnel. It groups under a single command, all previously existing Sappers Divers Units (EOD/Combat Divers, Salvage/SAR, MCM/MW) and Services (Training and Logistics).

Organization

The Divers Group is a command, within the

Subsurface Squadron, and is commanded by a senior naval officer. It includes: * Commander *Operations Cell * Diving Service (''Serviço de Mergulho'') - Logistics * Divers School (''Escola de Mergulhadores'') - Training * Sappers Divers Detachment No. 1 (''Destacamento de Mergulhadores Sapadores N.º1 - DMS1'') - EOD / Combat Divers * Sappers Divers Detachment No. 2 (''Destacamento de Mergulhadores Sapadores N.º2 - DMS2'') - Salvage / SAR * Sappers Divers Detachment No. 3 (''Destacamento de Mergulhadores Sapadores N.º3 - DMS3'') - Mine Counter-Measures / Mine Warfare

History

The first notice of the employment of combat divers by

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

occurred in 1580, during the

War of the Portuguese Succession The War of the Portuguese Succession, a result of the extinction of the Portuguese royal line after the Battle of Alcácer Quibir and the ensuing Portuguese succession crisis of 1580, was fought from 1580 to 1583 between the two main claimants ...

. In that occasion, Portuguese combat divers attacked the enemy Spanish ships that were in the Tagus, in order to damage their hulls. In the scope of the Overseas war in Portuguese Guinea, the Portuguese Navy detected the use of

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

s by the enemy forces of the

PAIGC The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde ( pt, Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, PAIGC) is a political party in Guinea-Bissau. Originally formed to peacefully campaign for independence from ...

. To deal with that threat, in 1966, the No. 1 Sappers Divers Section was created and deployed to Guinea. In 1968, the No. 2 Sappers Divers Section is also created. In 1972, the two sappers divers sections are transformed in two larger sappers divers detachments (DMS, ''destacamentos de mergulhadores sapadores''). The DMS continue to be assigned to the Navy's Guinea Maritime Defense Command due to the operational imperatives of its activities. The DMS were disbanded in 1975, after the end of the Overseas War. Afterwards the operational activity of the divers was assigned to the Navy's Divers School. The Sappers Divers Detachment No. 1 (DMS1) was reactivated on 1 June, 1988, because there was a need of an operational unit specially dedicated to the military diving area. Public interest activities, namely salvage diving and search-and-rescue were still assigned to the Divers School. When, on 1 January, 1995, the DMS2 was reactivated (with twenty elements instead of thirteen), all operational activity was assigned to the detachments, with Divers School becoming only dedicated to the instruction activities. In 2004, the Sappers Divers Group is created, grouping the DMS1, the DMS2 and the Divers School under a single Command. A divers unit focused in mine warfare is created in 2008, this being the Sappers Divers Detachment No. 3 (DMS-MW). The Sappers Divers Group is under the command of the Portuguese Navy Submarine Squadron.

Missions

The missions assigned to the Sappers Divers Detachments, under the Divers Group command, are: * Tactical coastal

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

and obstacle clearing for the landing of amphibious forces. * Underwater defensive and offensive operations, at

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

, in the

shore A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...

line, in

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

access, and in

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

facilities, against enemy positions and naval assets. *

Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the militar ...

(Conventional and IED). * Salvage diving operations, namely survey, repair and recuperation of naval units. * Search-and-rescue operations. * Co-operation in the control of activities linked to the

seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...

. * Co-operation in the scientific study of the sea. High-profile operations conducted by the unit: * Inspection of the

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

tunnel in

Praça do Comércio The Praça do Comércio (; ) is a large, harbour-facing plaza in Portugal's capital, Lisbon, and is one of the largest in Portugal, with an area of 175 by 175 m (574 by 574 ft), that is, 30,600 m2 (329,000 ft2). Facing the Tagus () to the South, ...

. * Salvage of bodies of the Entre-os-Rios bridge collapse in 2001. * Exercises of amphibious operations in the CONTEX national exercises. * The recent certification for

deep diving Deep diving is underwater diving to a depth beyond the norm accepted by the associated community. In some cases this is a prescribed limit established by an authority, while in others it is associated with a level of certification or training, an ...

up to 81 meters. *SNMCMG1.

External links

Picture gallery
{{Underwater diving, prodiv Special forces of Portugal Portuguese Navy Military units and formations established in 2004 Frogman operations Combat diving Explosive ordnance disposal units and formations Military of Portugal