Military Swimming - on the Edge of the Naval Attack

Added: 12/12/2005

The main component of special military forces training is the swimming, which being joined with a military activity is called military swimming. Swimming in military purposes executes both on the water surface and under the water and involves diving. Special forces as, for example, Navy SEALS, marines and sea police use military swimming to land troops, to gather military information and so on.

The elite military forces of each army are marines and landing troops. Special Forces in the USA are called United States Navy Sea, Air and Land (SEAL) forces. In France they are called "Hubert", in Russia "Delfin", in China "Sea Dragons". The work, which marine warriors perform is high- risk work and is accompanied with a permanent danger. There are divers-shot-firers, whose mission is the reconnaissance and destroying of underwater artificial obstacles of the opponent on the landing of military troop's route.

Underwater military swimming is a secret mastership which is a weapon of the military swimmer. The unique military subdivision of the USA military forces is called Frogmen. This division obtained this nickname of "Tight Rubber Suits" for their long, frog-like flippers made of rubber which were worn by its staff. Frogmen managed a great number of tricks to confuse their enemies in seas and rivers and other ponds around the world. Frogmen conduct hydrographic reconnoitering of the objective areas before their attacks.

Using military swimming they eliminate barriers which might hinder attack landings or other tactics of invasion. Their chore is to clean up the waters which are adjacent to the areas of landing after they complete the amphibious operation. It includes elimination or destruction of ships which have been beached or sunken, blasting supply channels, and some other operations. The military swimmers can make parachute jumps into the water and quickly evacuate divers from water with the help of the fast moving boat (method Fulton Pickup).

The troops of military swimmers of China naval forces are organized as "reconnaissance-diversion" troops and are the part of marines stuff. The tasks of underwater wreckers are the reconnaissance in littoral and sea regions, controlled by the enemy, destruction of his stationary and mobile launch systems, inclusive anti-aircraft defense, demolition of enemy's command posts and military marine platforms, and carrying out rescue operations in case of inundations and other natural disasters.

The selection of military swimmers is fulfilled by the most trained marines. Before becoming commando candidates each of them passes a concentrated test of calisthenics, which consists of two hours of running, a twice-repeated course through artificial obstacles that are completely equipped, and of course weight-lifting exercises.

The most famous unit of Russian military swimmers is glorious detachment of skin-divers from the Main Intelligence Service (GRU) naval forces named "Delfin" (dolphin). The selection of candidates in this unit is very severe: from the beginning candidates are sent to submarine school. Then best of them pass a complex test, including military swimming, psychological, physical and other complex tests. The majority of military men should be able to pass several military swimming-related tests, which are related to swimming in military purposes. Usually, these tests are either performed at the various military training programs or in advanced training performed in Special Forces.

In the Navy and Coast Guard the swim test is a part of the members physical testing which should be confirmed annually.

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