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THE DIVING MANUAL
(ROYAL NAVY)
Royal Navy “The Diving Manual
BR155/1936”
Published by the British
Admiralty from 1936.
Thick Card Covers, blue
binding. Dimensions 24.5 cms tall by 15.5 cms wide.
The first version of the
Royal Navy Diving Manual that has a “BR” number, previous versions as far
as I know were simply called “Diving Manual”, further qualified by the
year of publication.
Published with 141 printed
pages, divided into 10 chapters, two appendix’s and 20 plates at the back
that are a combination of photographs and line drawings. Chapters
are divided into the following subjects:
1 Description of the Apparatus,
its Care and Maintenance with Rules for Testing the Pump.
2 The Physics and Physiology
of Diving.
3 Dressing the Diver, Attendance
and Signals.
4 The Management of Diving,
Duties of the Officer in Charge, Rules for Decompression in Depth Up to
200 Feet.
5 Hints For The Diver and
Methods of Doing Work.
6 Diving in Deep Water Using
the Davis Submerged Decompression Chamber.
7 Compressed Air Illness
and Accidents to the Diver.
8 Pneumatic Tools and Underwater
Cutting Apparatus.
9 Breathing Apparatus Pattern
230 and Oxygen Breathing Apparatus
10 Orders and Regulations
Concerning Divers.
Chapter 1 is priceless when
used for servicing or restoring old equipment. Everything is itemized
but the instructions for testing the two cylinder Admiralty Pattern Pump
do get a bit complicated! All depths shown when calculating pressure
are in fathoms rather than feet or metres but decompression tables are
in feet.. Sections 3 and 4 describes the management and routines
for sending down the diver and all duties described for all personnel involved.
More help for the diver at work is continued in chapter 5.
Replaced by BR155/43 in 1943. |
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THE DIVING MANUAL
(ROYAL NAVY)
Initially: BR155 Diving
Manual, from 1936. [All details from PT]
Then Royal Navy Diving Manual
BR155/1943, published by the British Admiralty in 1943; the manual tells
how to dive and maintain equipment 'Navy Style'.
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Hard cover with cloth boards
with 154 printed pages. 10 colour illustrations, 6 line diagrams and 11
large coloured fold out plates at the back of the manual.
Dimensions 24.5 cms tall
by 15.5 cms wide
Published by the British
Admiralty in 1943, The book is divided into 10 chapters, each dealing
with different aspects of diving in the British Royal Navy at the time:
1 The Physics of Diving
and Their Effect on the Human Body.
2 Description of the Apparatus,
Its Care and Maintenance.
3 Dressing the Diver, Attendance
and Signals.
4 Practical Work Underwater
5 The Management of Diving,
Duties of the Officer in Charge, Rules for Decompression in Depths up to
200 Feet.
6 Diving in Deep Water,
Using the Davis Submerged Decompression Chamber
7 Compressed Air Illness
and Accidents to the Diver
8 Under-Water Tools and
Tubular Construction
9 Breathing Apparatus Pattern
230 and Oxygen Breathing Apparatus
10 Orders and Regulation
Concerning Divers
Each chapter goes into excellent
detail, section 2 is very useful as every item used in standard diving
is itemised, described and routine maintenance is broken down step by step.
Throughout, the manual is extremely well illustrated with diagrams (some
in colour), in particular, the “cut out” diagrams of the two cylinder Admiralty
diving pump which not only covers the Siebe Gorman pump but the similar
Heinke version of the same pump that must have been used by the Royal Navy.
As well as the diver and pump diagrams, other interesting “pull out” diagrams
include the submersible decompression chamber, the deep diving air control
panel, air purifying arrangements for deep diving, underwater cutting apparatus,
the Cox’s Bolt Gun and the Salvus self contained breathing apparatus.
The manual was kept current
by updates called “AFO’s” which stood for “Admiralty Fleet Orders”.
The first one was issued in April 1944 and covered various items.
The final one I actually have is amendment 14, issued in September 1950.
I guess there are more as the manual was not superseded until “BR155C”
in 1956. However, two suppliments were issued to the manual as well.
BR155A/1943 was a handbook of breathing apparatus Pattern 230 and Salvus
which in effect was a reprint of chapter 9 only of this manual. The
second was BR155B/44 published in 1944 to cover the Admiralty Shallow Water
Diving Dress - better known as the Sladen Suit or "Clammy Death". [pt] |
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BR155B/1944
ROYAL NAVY DIVING MANUAL
Supplement to the manual
BR155/1943. Published by the British Admiralty in 1944.
Hard cover with cloth boards
with 16 printed pages
Illustrated with five large
coloured fold-out plates at the back of the manual which pull out to at
least double the size of the book. Dimensions 24.5 cms tall by 15.5 cms
wide
Published by the British
Admiralty in 1944, this manual is a supplement to the full diving manual
BR155/43 published in 1943. This manual deals with the “Admiralty
Shallow Water Diving Dress”, otherwise known as the Sladen Suit, in conjunction
with the Salvus re-breather or surface demand using air. The manual
is divided into five sections as follows:
1 Use of the dress with
Pattern 3485 Salvus, the Davis Submarine Escape Apparatus and the limiting
depths when used with Oxygen. 2 Use of the shallow water dress when used
with air pumped from the surface. 3 The use of the dress with air diving.
4 Maintenance of the dress. 5 Training and payment. |
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ROYAL NAVY DIVING MANUAL
BR155C/1956
(Replaced BR155/43 diving
manual from 1943).
Published by the British
Admiralty from 1956.
Published in small stapled
soft back booklets that were bound in a single hard binder. Dimensions
29.0 cms tall by 22.5 cms wide. Larger in format than its previous issue,
this is arguably the best and most comprehensive diving manual the Royal
Navy ever issued. It was published just at the time that the navy
were starting to introduce diving with “modern” CDBA re-breathers but still
covers standard diving very comprehensively. Not only is it well
illustrated with drawings and diagrams, it was graphically illustrated
with many, many photographs. It is divided into 8 parts and each
part was issued in a separate descreet book that was collected together
in a single blue binder. Each separate part was:
1 The Theory of Diving –
75 Pages(1956). 2 Diving Regulations – 26 Pages (1956).
3 Self-Contained Diving – 60 Pages (1957). 4 Standard Diving – 34
Pages (1956). 5 Deep Diving – 50 Pages (1957). 6 Practical
Diving – 30 Pages (1956). 7 Marine Salvage – 46 Pages (1960).
8 Diver’s Loudspeaker Intercommunication Equipment – 43 Pages (1958).
Part 3 covering self-contained
diving is particularly interesting as it covers the standard diving “Siebe
Gorman Mine Recovery Suit” which must have been being phased out as well
as what must have been recently introduced at the time, the CDBA rebreather
set. Even more interesting, the CDBA set is shown in use with both
the Sladen Suit and the Underwater Swimming Suit, similar to the modern
dry suit. Part 5 covers deep diving and features decompression tables
for diving with air up to 300 feet and oxy-helium mixtures up to 500 feet.
Although this seems very deep for the time, it should be remember that
Royal Navy diver George Wookey had done a dive up to 600 feet the year
before in 1956. The section goes on to show the equipment used for
deep diving with a back weight replaced with an injector arrangement that
scrubs any carbon di-oxide from the incoming gas. Part 5 also goes
into detail about and the use of the Davis Submersible Decompression Chamber.
Part 8 introduces the “new” AP 32189 amplified divers telephone.
A new invention as the old type 133 telephone in the polished wooden box
(explained in some detail in part 6) relied on the diver and the attendant
using headphones. The amplified system removed the need for any headphones
to be worn. The manual was replaced in 1964 with an updated version of
BR155. |
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ROYAL NAVY DIVING MANUAL
BR 155/1964
(Replaced BR155C diving
manual dated 1956)
Published 1964.
Published in a large format
ring binder. Dimensions 29.0 cms tall by 22.5 cms wide
Continuing in the Royal
Navy theme, the 1964 version of the BR155 manual is an assortment of diagrams.
The cover is plain, with just simple gold lettering on a blue green cloth
background. Similar in format to the previous version published in 1956
but now totally loose leaf, presumably to make updates easier to insert
and obsolete parts easier to remove. The ring binder arrangement
is a major piece of engineering itself with 22 retaining rings, maybe making
the loose pages less prone to falling out! Quite a few major changes in
this version with much of the old equipment left out. Still divided
into 8 parts, the manual still follows a similar format to BR155C.
1 Diving Regulations – 68
Pages. 2 The Theory of Diving – 38 Pages. 3 Ship and Clearance
Diving – 162 Pages.
4 Surface and Submersible
Chambers – 68 Pages. 5 Practical Diving – 76 Pages. 6 Marine
Salvage – 70 Pages.
7 Standard Diving – 54 Pages.
8 Diver’s Loudspeaker Intercommunication Equipment – 49 Pages
Decompression tables and
associated information have been moved into part 1 and maximum depths shown
have been reduced to 200 feet, less than the depths quoted in BR155C.
Part 3 covering Ship and Clearance Diving has been introduced and is a
really large section in the manual. Equipment explained in great
detail here is the “Underwater Swimming Dess” “Swimmers Air Breathing Apparatus”
(SABA), “Surface Demand Breathing Apparatus” (SDDE) and “Clearance Divers
Breathing Apparatus” (CDBA). Information included includes description,
care and maintenance. Decompression chambers are given a section
of its own. It covers the old Davis Submersible Chamber, one man
chambers up to large chambers and submersible observation chambers.
Part 7 on standard diving has been cut down presumably as the Royal Navy
envisaged that the equipment would be replaced with the previously mentioned
SDDE equipment. Finally section 8 is almost identical to the same
section in BR155C which had been added late in 1960.
This actual manual has updates
included until 1970. The manual was eventually replaced with a new
manual called BR2806 in 1972. |
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BR 2806 DIVING MANUAL
(1972)
Royal Navy Diving Manual
BR2806. (Replaced BR155 Diving Manual, 1964).
Published by the Ministry
of Defence, Weapons Department (Naval)
Date Published March 1972.
Binding Details: Loose
leaf spring clip release arrangement with 4 holes in paper. Dimensions
30.5 cms tall by 22.0 cms wide
Now Manual has now moved
away from the series with BR155 and I suppose echoing a new era of diving
in the Royal Navy. The standard diving section of the manual has
boon condensed at the end of Chapter 4. The manual is broken down
into 7 chapters or sections:
1 Theory of Diving – 39
pages.
2 Regulations – 35 pages.
3 Conduct of Diving Operations
– 59 pages.
4 Breathing Apparatus, Drill
and Operation – 23 pages.
5 Decompression – 50 pages.
6 Divers’ Illnesses and
Injuries – 9 pages.
7 Civilian and Expedition
Diving – 10 pages.
Like all other manuals issued
by the navy, there are many diagrams, photographs and illustrations throughout.
Chapter 3 contains a full comprehensive list and description of ancillary
equipment as well as methods of work. Chapter 4 covers the Clearance
Divers Breathing Apparatus (CDBA), Swimmer-Canoeist Breathing Apparatus
(SCBA), Swimmer-Canoeists Mixture Breathing Apparatus (SCMBA), Swimmers
Air Breathing Apparatus (SABA), Surface Demand Diving Equipment (SDDE),
Breathing Apparatus Self-Contained Compressed Air Search and Rescue (BASAR)
and finally standard diving equipment in just 4 pages! Chapter
5 covering decompression problems only show air tables up to 60 metres
on what is described in the “Air Table”, 90 metres on the “Deep Air Table”
and 90 metres on the “Deep Air-Oxygen Table”.
The manual like all others,
has changes and the only ones I know about are “Change 1” issued 24th September
1973 and “Change 2” issued 30th June 1975. I am sure there are more? |
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