The Italian Navy special forces unit Gruppo Operativo Subacquei (GOS), the diver’s branch for rescue tasks and damage inspection, recently organised an emergency exercise called SDAI Nord.
The exercise involved personnel of the Rapid Deployment Unit and Insidious Device Disposal Expert Teams (Nuclei SDAI, Sminamento Difesa Antimezzi Insidiosi) based in La Spezia and Ancona, Italy.
Training scenarios were implemented on the basis of the lessons learned from recent emergencies, such as the Costa Concordia disaster, the cargo ship collision with Genoa port control tower, and during delicate operations of underwater conventional explosive ordnance disposal.
These exercises are also aimed at promoting cooperation between diving teams which usually operate in isolation in their relevant areas, in order to ensure full interoperability in case of response to major emergencies.
The Italian Navy said the Operational Divers Group personnel conducted a variety of missions, including night diving, focusing on the employment of surface-supplied diving gear, underwater cutting and welding equipment and Viper SC breathing apparatus, specially designed for clearance diving.