The Navy's Diving Cadre was modeled entirely on that of the British Navy. There were two categories - deep divers and shallow divers. The years till 1965 witnessed a steady rise in the demand for naval diving assistance. The main constraint was the acute shortage of divers, the lack of a diving tender and the lack of diving boats.

The 1964-69 Plan accepted the need for Clearance Diving teams for the major ports and the Fleet.

In 1965, approval was accorded in principle to the formation of three clearance diving teams with additional instructors and the necessary equipment. The cadre of clearance divers and the allowances and dip moneys payable to them was also agreed upon.

In June 1966, sanction was accorded for the setting up of a Clearance Diving Cadre comprising 5 officers and 44 sailors, to form three Clearance Diving Teams, one each for Bombay, Visakhapatnam and the Fleet. These teams could be quickly deployed to render diving assistance to the organisation who sought their assistance.

Diving Tenders

The Defence Plan 1966-71 had provided for two tugs. The sanction for the first Ocean Going Tug, GAJ had provided for it to have a large Recompression Chamber and a Portable One-Man Recompression Chamber.

In 1967, it was learnt that the Pakistan Navy had acquired midget submarines and chariots for clandestine underwater attack by frogmen/commandos on ships when in harbour. Till then, only one Clearance Diving Team had been raised in Bombay. Immediately, the urgency increased to expand the Diving Cadre and improve its effectiveness and its capability.

In 1968, to attract volunteers for diving duties, the rates of Sailors Retaining Sea and Diving Pay (dip money) were revised upward.

Until 1968, there had been no central organisation responsible either for the repair of diving equipment or to certify its serviceability. In 1968, this responsibility was entrusted to the Weapons Department of the Bombay Dockyard and its staff augmented by experienced clearance divers.

Till 1970, the acute shortage of divers persisted.

In 1971, with the induction of the Submarine Resue Vessel NISTAR and its Deep Diving capability, the Navy's proposal was accepted that the Diving Cadre be reorganised into five categories:-

(a)  Clearance Diving Officers	Rs. 75 Monthly Allowance
(b)  Deep Diving Officers	Rs. 75
(c)  Ship Diving Officers	Rs. 40
(d)  Deep Divers	Rs. 60
(e)  Ship Divers	Rs. 35

The personnel of the erstwhile Deep Diver and Shallow Diver categories were given the option to convert to Clearance/Deep Divers and Ship Divers respectively or retain their existing qualifications till they retired. It was hoped that the monthly allowance for ship divers would encourage volunteers to fill the large Diving Cadre which Government was going to sanction.

In October 1971, sanction was accorded for a revised Diving Cadre of 661 Diving Specialist officers, Clearance Divers and Ship Divers, as against the original total sanction of only 150.

The acute shortage of divers manifested itself during the 1971 war, when ships bottoms had to be searched repeatedly to counter the threat of enemy frogmen.

In May 1972, only 200 divers were borne. The crash diver training programme, prepared to complete the training of over 400 divers by 1977, envisaged;-

(a) Training of 350 divers in Cochin by end 74.

(b) Preponing the commissioning of the Submarine Escape Training Tower/Naval Diving School at Vishakapatnam.

(c) Withdrawing experienced divers to act as instructors.

In early 1972, the Submarine Rescue Vessel NISTAR was positioned in Cochin to train Deep Sea divers and other trainees from the Diving School, Cochin. Practical training was carried out in the deep waters off Kovalam, near Trivandrum.

The biggest difficulty in sustaining the momentum of the crash programme to increase the number of divers was the lack of a diving tender. KONKAN, who had been doing diving tender duties since 1963, had reached the end of its life. On the one hand, the long awaited new ocean going tug, GAJ, had yet to be delivered. In the absence of GAJ, the only other vessel available for diving tender duties was NISTAR. On the other hand, the deployment of NISTAR to Cochin had resulted in her maintenance routines becoming overdue. NISTAR was also due for her guarantee closing refit in March 1972, which, if delayed, would affect the terms of her one year guarantee. A decision had therefore been taken that the old destroyer RANJIT was to be converted for diving duties during her next refit. However the cost of Ranjit's refit was found to be prohibitive. It was therefore decided to make the maximum possible use of NISTAR until GAJ commissioned in end 73.

In 1973, special boards were constituted for the medical examination of divers.

In end 1973, approval was accorded for revised scales of diving equipment for all ships and diving teams, which would provide for the bottom searches of ships against underwater sabotage.

In 1974, one officer and four sailors qualified as Deep Sea Divers from NISTAR in the first such course conducted by the Navy.

In 1975, NISTAR, for the first time, carried out extensive deep sea diving up to a depth of 100 meters.

In 1975, orders were placed for import of the latest diving equipment. Equipment shortages were expected to be made good by 1977.

In end 1975, the borne strength of naval divers still remained well short of what had been sanctioned:

Category	Sanctioned	Borne
Clearance Diver Officer (CDO)	30(20 + 50% Reserve)	17
Ships Diver Officer (SDO)	94(47 + 100%   "   )	90
Clearance Diver 1st Class(CD1)	39(26 + 50%    "   )	20
Clearance Diver 2nd Class (CD2)	53(37 + 50%    "   )	22
Clearance Diver 3rd Class(CD3)	103(69 + 50%   "   )	48
Ships Diver (SD)	470(235 + 100% "   )	227

DEVELOPMENTS AFTER 1975

The Naval Dockyard Bombay delivered four 45 foot diving boats. The Diving equipment ordered in 1975 started arriving from 1976 onwards.

THE CHARIOT PROJECT

In September 1972, a team was sent to Italy to finalise the acquisition of midget submarines and chariots from the same Italian firm which had earlier supplied midgets and chariots to the Pakistan Navy in 1967. The team was tasked to evaluate, negotiate and contract for midget submarines and chariots.

The team did not consider it worthwhile to acquire midget submarines because of :

(a) Their unsuitability for long range operations in tropical waters.

(b) The difficult problems of manning these craft.

(c) The uncertainty of their continued maintain- ability.

Chariots could however be used for commando operations even without midget submarines.

The team signed a contract for the acquisition of six chariots along with supporting equipment, spares and explosives.

Acceptance trials were carried out in 1974. The chariots arrived in 1975 and were based in Bombay. The first replacement crew was trained by 1976. On 1 May 80, the newly built chariot complex was commissioned as INS ABHIMANYU.

The basic role of the chariot complex was to determine the defensive measures to be instituted to defend Bombay against possible attack by Pakistan's midget submarine's and chariots. In addition, on an ongoing basis, the chariots were to exercise ships in harbour in Operation AWKWARD procedures. When required, the chariots could also be deployed operationally.

Initially, considerable difficulties were experienced in identifying and earmarking a ship to embark the chariots, take them well out to sea and then lower them safely into the water to go in and carry out dummy attacks on ships in Bombay Harbour. Eventually, AMBA, who had by then been re-based in Bombay to support the VELA Class submarines on the West Coast, was found to be most suitable as a chariot launching platform. In tactical exercises, both AMBA and the chariots performed efficiently and successfully.