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Battle Stations! Loaded, Trained and Ready: Our
sailors manning the main gun of RSS Panglima. Warrior of the Deep: Tough training is the
hallmark of the naval divers from Day One. “The
only easy day was yesterday” is a creed that all
FORMATION OF THE NAVAL DIVING naval divers from the RSN live by. Their training
UNIT equips the fear- busting courage and prepares
them for above normal physical exertion in
With the introduction of more ships into the operations.
Navy’s Order of Battle (ORBAT), the Navy
needed the capability to do original FORMATION OF THE MIDSHIPMAN
underwater repair work. The SAF Diving SCHOOL
Centre was formed in 1971, comprising a
small group of 16 divers. Its equipment As the Navy grew, a critical mass of officers
included a 10-man and a 1-man was needed. Although ratings were already
decompression chamber, a two-storey low- trained locally, officers continued to be
pressure compressor and three hangars. trained overseas. Professional training in the
Navy reached a new milestone when the
It was renamed the Naval Diving Unit (NDU) Midshipman School was formed in April
in 1975. In the 1980s, NDU started to move 1974. This was long overdue as overseas
beyond a support role, to include combat training billets were insufficient to produce
diving and mine clearance operations. Naval enough officers for the Navy. The Class of
divers were sent overseas for courses like the 1974 consisted of 12 Regulars and 30
Basic Underwater Demolition, Explosive National Servicemen. This pioneer cohort of
Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and the elite Sea 42 Midshipmen far exceeded the number
Air Land (SEAL) course. trained overseas annually. Since its inception,
hundreds of Midshipmen have passed through
Midshipman School to provide sterling
service to the Navy.
Made in Singapore – The First Batch of Locally
Trained Midshipmen: The Midshipman School
