historical-diving

Historical diving

These regulations that were published by the French ministry of labour in 1992 have been reviewed in 2012 and 2019. However, the diving tables issued by COMEX SA under the name MT-92 have not been changed in the last revisions and are still among the best decompression models. This digital document was edited by INPP (Institut National de Plongee Professionelle) in 1998.

This document was published on the 20th of January 1999. Note that this revision was the 1st publishing of the US navy saturation procedures.

This document was published on the 15th of August 2005. It is an improvement of revision 4.

This document was published on the 15th of April 2008. It provides major reinforcements of the surface-orientated tables with also a new presentation still used in revision 7.

These trimix tables seem experimental and have not been officially published. The exact date of publication is not indicated on the document. However, we can consider that they have been tested between the end of the seventies and the beginning of the eighties.

Presentation of the tables MT 92 This document is in French

These tables have been replaced by a new version in 2014

This document has been produced to establish a single common standard for manned underwater operations in Norway. It is continued by the current NORSOK standards that can be downloaded through the page “Diving & ROV procedures”. Unfortunately, these standards are no more available for free.

This document contains tables for diving on air or nitrox and therapeutic recompression procedures for decompression illness and other ailments requiring hyperbaric treatment. It is replaced by revision five that can be downloaded for free through their website, which link is provided in“Diving & ROV procedures”.

NORMAM-15/DPC procedures propose saturations and air diving procedures. The saturation procedures are a development of the COMEX procedures and are considered among the best ones for diving operations up to 350 m for which they have been specifically developed. These procedures are those selected in the “saturation diving handbook” Diving & ROV Specialists. They are also explained in the diving study #5 CCO Ltd, “Implement NORMAM-15/DPC saturation diving procedures”. Both documents are available in Documents/Documents Diving & ROV Specialists. Note that NORMAM-15 DPC is recommended by the Diving Medical Advisory Committee (DMAC) for deep saturation diving operations.

This medical book was considerably in advance compared to other published manuals at the end of the seventies. Note that the majority of these guidelines are still valid. It is, for example, the case of the medical tables or the principle of preventive gas reserves, which was adopted in AODC 14 and then IMCA D 050.

This report was prepared to document the US navy’s searches for Space Shuttle Columbia debris in the lakes of East Texas. This report identifies the challenges, techniques, and science involved in developing the most effective search solutions. Reference USN: S0300-B5-RPT-010 Date of publication: September 2003

This report documents the efforts of the U.S. Navy to respond to the Katrina and Rita hurricanes' disasters in 2005 and provides information to responders of future, similar operations. Reference USN: S0800-AC-RPT-010 Date of publication: January 2007

This report documents the US Navy operations during 6 months of support to the Coast Guard, Department of Interior, and Department of Justice of the united states of America, following the oil spill from the Deep Water Horizon disaster. Reference USN: S0800-AC-RPT-010 Date of publication: November 2011

This document updates the previous procedures published in 2011. The saturation procedures remain untouched.

Author: Carmela A. Keeney This report summarizes underwater cleaning procedures and devices that are appropriate to use on civil works structures. It was prepared by the US Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory, which has conducted extensive tests and evaluations of underwater cleaning techniques for waterfront structures. The cleaning systems evaluated encompassed several different types that are characteristic of those that are commercially available. The application, advantages, disadvantages, and operation of each type of equipment are discussed. Note that most recommendations of this document are still applicable today.

This document is an extract of the US Navy manual 1981 It is revision 1 of the US Navy mixed gas diving manual (Volume 2) published in 1961. (Note that the copy is not of very good quality. A better quality one should be welcome)

Author: Francis Hermans This document chronologically relates to the inventions and practices that have allowed divers to cut underwater from the beginning of the diving industry.

Aurthor: Susan j. Trukken This paper describes experimentations undertaken by the US Navy Experimental Diving Unit in April 1984 on the CLUCAS Underwater Kerie Cable thermal cutting equipment. The purpose of these tests was to verify US Navy procedures for setting up, use, and maintenance and evaluate the hazards and proper procedural corrections.

This US Navy guidance describes the types of water contaminations encountered and how to manage them. It is superseded by a new version published in 2019 that is now authorized for public release and is available on this website (see in “Diving and ROV procedures”. However, it is helpful to keep this version in mind for comparison purposes.s with also a new presentation still used in revision 7.

The US Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) conducts a variety of underwater inspection and maintenance programs that include the use of divers. In order to ensure employee safety and regulatory compliance, Reclamation has developed this Diving Safe Practices Manual (DSPM). This document is superseded by the version published in 2021.

NOAA Diving manual is edited by the USA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the US Department of Commerce. This document is the 3rd edition. It considered scuba an acceptable means of intervention for scientific and commercial diving. It was also the case in many countries during this period. This version did not discuss the Unit Pulmonary Toxic Dose (UPTD) tables.

This document is the 4th edition of the NOAA diving manual. There are a lot of useful information in this edition that has been replaced in 2015 and then in 2017 (sixth edition)

Authors: Kristin Øye Gjerde and Helge Ryggvik This book, originally published in 2009, presents the history of diving in support of the oil industry on the Norwegian continental shelf.

US Navy refrence: NAVSHIPS 0994-001-9010. This version of the US Navy Diving manual was 1st published in September 1969 and officially released in March 1970. (Document found on Google Books - Not available on the Navsea website)

Author: G. C. C. Damant The "Laurentic" was a 15,000-ton Atlantic liner which, during the 1st world war, was taken over by the Admiralty and converted into an armed cruiser. She was sunk by a German mine in 1917 with five million pounds in her cargo. This book relates the recovery of this essential cargo and is a fantastic testimony to the techniques used during this period. Captain Damant was a friend of John Scott Haldane and was directly involved in the studies of the first decompression table.

Reference NAVSEA: 0927-LP-001-9110 This version of the US Navy manual did not provide saturation tables (It was also found on Google books - Not available on the Navsea website)

This document is the 1st part of the french decree 2012, which was the 1st modification of the decree of May 1992 - Note that the decompression table MT 92 has not been modified. This document is in French

This document is the 2nd part of the French decree 2012, which was the 1st modification of the decree of May 1992 - Note that the decompression table MT 92 has not been modified. This document is in French

Publisher: Mammoet - Smit international This document describes the planned operations for the recovery of the Kursk, a Russian submarine that sank in an accident on 12 August 2000 with 118 crew members. The wreck of the submarine was recovered by Mammoet - Smit international in 2001.

Authors: Godfried Van Moorsel, Floris P. Bennema. This paper deals with techniques in use before 1940 to observe marine life or collect specimens by hand in their natural sublittoral environment. It excludes atmospheric diving with devices such as submarines and bathysphere. Also, snorkeling gear or SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) is not treated. This is predominantly a post-WWII development; before 1940, it was impossible to construct fitting facemasks, and fins were not yet commercially available.

This document, Published in 2004, has been replaced by revision 2 in 2021. it provides useful information regarding calculations and relevant practices regarding the organization of the rigging, the pumping procedures, and other necessary activities to save or recover a ship. As for the documents above, the guidelines it provides can be used for other works than ship salvage.

This document provides basic knowledge of naval architecture and its application to marine salvage. It was 1st published in 1989, and updated in 2006. It has been replaced by a new edition in 2013. It can be compared with the latest edition to understand the changes made by the us Navy.

1 - Report of a committee appointed by the lord commissioners of the admiralty to consider and report upon the conditions of deep water diving

Published by the British Admiralty in 1907 This book is to be considered the 1st diving manual based on Haldane’s tables. It corresponds to the order made to John Scott Haldane by the British admiralty for designing safe decompression procedures, allowing the Royal Navy divers to dive deeper than previously. Many texts are extracted from the document “The prevention of decompression illness”, the scientific paper related to the experiments that resulted in the 1st decompression table. In addition, improvements in diving equipment resulting from the test dives made by Captain Damant and Gunner Cato are explained.

The US Navy Diving Manual 1916 was the 1st document integrating Haldane’s decompression tables. While they will be modified later, this edition integrated them without modifications. As the US Navy manuals of today, this document was very rich in information. Copies of this manual are today rare, and we struggled to find one. This one has been digitalized by "Google Books".

This manual was published to supersede the 1924 manual and covered all aspects of US Navy diving at the time, including diving on Heliox mixtures. Note that the air tables were already a modification of those published by Haldane and the British admiralty in 1907. Likethe 1916 edition, this book is scarce. This one comes from the University of Michigan and has been digitalized by Google Books

Publisher: The American academy of underwater sciences This workshop was held in 1988. Thus, these proceedings have to be considered with the technology available at this time. Remember that the computers were far from having the power and the integration of today’s ones.

Publisher: South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society [SPUMS] This document provides key dates of the history of diving systems and related scientific discoveries from 4500 BC to 1990.

Author: Leslie Collier This book relates the history of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, where Haldane’s research on creating the first decompression table was performed. Much other scientific research has been done on its premises later on.

These tables, studied by doctor Fructus, were published by COMEX (compagnie maritime d'expertises) in 1974 and used until the publication of the Table 1983.

Decompression schedules for air diving at depths of from 100 to 250 fsw with various times of work on the bottom were computed by Haldane, Workman, and Lambertsen techniques, after the method of Buhlmann. And after the scientific approach of Hills. The resulting dive table were compared with depth and time diving schedules used by the U.S. Navy on one hand and those recommended by the British Royal Naval physiological laboratory on the other. The comparative evaluations disclosed that the US Navy Navy tables have significantly shorter decompression times and use more shallow decompression stops than the other tables…

The COMEX (compagnie maritime d'expertises) tables 1987 serve as the foundation for the MT 92 tables and were introduced to the scientific community at the 37th Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Workshop for the validation of decompression tables. The documents “Safety analysis of French 1974 air decompression tables”, and “A method for introducing new decompression procedures”, explain the method used to design it.

This document, superseded by the 2023 edition, represents the minimum safety standards for diving under the auspices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as of the approval date of this manual.

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This document, a reproduction of Chapter 36 from the Manual of the Bureau of Construction & Repair, Navy Department, was crucial in directing U.S. Navy diving research and development during its respective period. It provided comprehensive guidelines on diving methodologies, equipment operation, and safety procedures, encompassing diving suits, helmets, and air supply systems.

Author: James Royce This document, released in April 1946, provides a comprehensive overview of the United States Navy diving schools during that era.

This manual is an improvement on the 1946 edition it replaced, with the notable addition of heliox diving procedures. (Document found on Google Books - Not available on the Navsea website)

This manual was an improvement over the 1970 edition, which it superseded. It had three objectives: • Assemble and present all available technical information. • Provide a means for quickly sharing new developments. • Authorize the use of particular practices that assist field personnel in carrying out their duties.

On the 6th of July, 1988, an explosion and subsequent fire occurred on the Piper Alpha oil platform, situated in the North Sea, off the Scottish coast. This catastrophic event resulted in the loss of 167 lives and the total demolition of the platform. Seven days after this calamity, Lord Cullen was assigned the responsibility of spearheading a comprehensive public investigation into the incident. This extensive inquiry, which lasted 180 days, was designed to uncover the underlying causes and circumstances that led to this disaster. The recommendations made by Lord Cullen commission continue to shape safety protocols on a global scale.

This manual describes procedures for conducting diving operations as practiced by COMEX offshore during the 1980s, in addition to guidelines for the use of various underwater tools. Although written during the 1980s, it can be considered a reference for the conception of a diving manual.

Authors: Jean Claude Le pechon, Jean Luc Pasquier In the 1980s, the introduction of shield tunnelling boring machines (TBM) in France revealed that the existing safety regulations for compressed air workers, established by the décret of July 9, 1974, were inadequate for this new technology. Similarly, the safety rules for commercial divers, set by the décret of July 11, 1974, were soon found to need improvements due to the demands of the growing offshore industry. Consequently, a new French regulation was published on March 21, 1990, with additional amendments in 1991 and 1992.

COMEX magazine / Henri Germain Delauze The intent of this document is to celebrate and highlight the 50th anniversary of Comex, a company founded by Henri Germain Delauze. It aims to provide a historical overview of the company's journey, its technological innovations, and industrial successes over the past five decades. The text also emphasizes the founder's pioneering spirit in the field of underwater exploration and diving technology.

COMEX magazine / Henri Germain Delauze This document is the French version of the article described above

Authors: Robert D. Christ & Robert L. Wernli This manual provided comprehensive guidelines for operating and deploying observation-class ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) systems. It aims to educate users on the basic principles, techniques, and procedures for using these systems in various underwater tasks. It is designed to be non-specific to any manufacturer.

Authors: Chris Bell, Mel Bayliss and Richard Warburton The subjects covered in this handbook were wide-ranging and diverse, making it necessary for the reader to grasp scientific fundamentals such as electricity, hydraulics, and photography before reading it. Many books were available explaining these fundamentals, and the reader was recommended to familiarize himself with these before undertaking this course of study..

These tables are designed by the Norwegian Diving and Decompression Tables (NDDT). This book contains tables for diving on air or nitrox, as well as therapeutic recompression procedures for decompression illness and other ailments requiring hyperbaric treatment, and is an improvement of the previous edition. The document can be downloaded by clicking on the picture of the cover on the side, or through the official website at the address below: https://dykketabeller.no/english/index.html

These tables are designed by the Norwegian Diving and Decompression Tables (NDDT). This book contains tables for diving on air or nitrox, as well as therapeutic recompression procedures for decompression illness and other ailments requiring hyperbaric treatment, and is an improvement of the previous edition. The document can be downloaded by clicking on the picture of the cover on the side, or through the official website at the address below: https://dykketabeller.no/english/index.html

This handbook is the first edition providing saturation diving procedures.

09 - Handbook US Navy Diving Operations - 1974

Publisher: International Tunneling and underground spaces Association, in association with the British society compressed air working groupAt its meeting in Vancouver in 2010, International Tunnelling Association Working Group 5 identified the need for guidance on the use of high pressure compressed air. WG5 defined this as “work in compressed air at pressures above historical statutory limits, which in most countries are between 3 and 4 bar (gauge), and which involves the use of breathing mixtures other than compressed natural air and can involve the use of saturation techniques”.

56 - ITA Working Group 5 ‘Health & Safety in Works’ In Association with the British Tunnelling Society Compressed Air Working Group - March 2018

This document, published in January 2020, provides the ADCI diving guidelines between this date and January 2025, the date when it was superseded by the edition 6.5 currently in force.