HMS Atherstone Divers Make Dubai Port Safer

Divers from Royal Navy’s HMS Atherstone have helped make the port of Dubai safer when they assisted in recovering sunken objects from the harbour.

More used to plunging into the waters of the Gulf to deal with real and practice mines, the nine-strong team of clearance divers jumped at the chance to help harbour authorities.

The port has about one ninth of the capacity of the much larger Jebel Ali just down the coast, but remains the principal port for visiting cruise liners, and accommodates merchantmen as they load and offload goods, plus visiting RN warships.

In clearing almost 800 metres of jetty, the team found and assisted in the removal of seven fenders – giant bumpers to stop ships bashing against quay walls – each one weighing 4.5 tonnes.

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Image: Royal Navy