Pacific diving unit to shut down, sources say - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Pacific diving unit to shut down, sources say

Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 1, the Navy’s deploying diving and salvage capability for the entire Pacific Fleet, will be decommissioned by Oct. 1, two sources told Navy Times.

The unit, which just played a key role in the salvage of the cruiser Port Royal in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was identified by Navy Expeditionary Combat Command as “having a low demand signal,” a source within the unit said.

Gone will be 67 diving and support billets, the sources told Navy Times, including the commanding officer, executive officer and the command master chief billets.

Remaining will be roughly 45 diving billets that will report directly to San Diego-based Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 1, but the unit will cease to be a command of its own.

It is unclear if there will be similar cuts at MDSU 2, based at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Va.

The cuts were programmed into the 2010 defense budget by NECC and are a part of larger cuts expected from the Little Creek-based command, the sources said.

NECC would not comment on the decision, citing the 2010 budget has yet to be submitted.

“We can’t provide detailed information on the future of MDSUs since no decisions have been announced affecting its future,” said Lt. Cmdr. Susan Henson, spokeswoman for NECC. “The Navy will be making tough budgeting decisions among competing programs and priorities, but no matter what, the Navy will retain capability for diving and salvage operations. “

But that capability, according to a source at MDSU 1, will severely limit the Navy’s ability to respond to a crisis similar to Port Royal’s.

“If this happened a year from now, I doubt we’d have been able to respond as we did,” the source said.

That’s because the unit maintains detachments of roughly 15 divers onboard both of Military Sealift Command’s Pacific-based rescue and salvage ships.

In addition, the unit regularly deploys divers to the Persian Gulf and responds to emergency diving needs from the western U.S. to Asia. That includes any maritime mishaps, including plane crashes and ship collisions.

It’s not just salvage capability that could take a hit, but the ability to ensure safe military diving operations in the Hawaii area. When the unit goes away, MDSU 1 will have to shut down its recompression chamber.

Right now, that facility remains on 24-hour standby to treat local Navy, Army and Marine Corps divers in the event of decompression sickness.

“We are expecting to announce that in the very near future,” the MDSU source said. “We simply will not have the people to maintain that kind of commitment anymore.”