European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 1, 1953, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wearing a helmet weighing 73 pounds and other paraphernalia totalling More than pounds a Navy diving student is lowered into 40 feel of water off Aba Yoane not All the men who begin the course Are around at the first big test comes when heavy diving helmet and other weighty equipment Are fitted onto the initial part of the coarse is spent in classrooms where prospective divers become familiar with equipment they will use in deep water for a variety of ragged by Joe staff writer rite navys training school at for Salvage divers hums with activity these some of the Busy pupils Are soldiers with a taste for the Salty life and the grim task of learning to be an underwater demolition but the majority of the class is composed of sailors lured by the offer of added pay who Are learning the hazards of floating a sunken ship and salvaging important equipment As it Julius Salvage training officer from puts it diving is a grim there is Noth ing attractive about the Only incentive is added whatever the the school is currently at its highest enrolment and this year will graduate More than personnel carrying of the schools Mot we dive the world Are operating with the Fleet in Korea and the North Atlantic and at Nazil installations Over during world War Salvage divers trained at the school worked in every theater salvaging and reclaiming equip ment valued at Morii than not All of the men who Start the course Are around at the it takes a sound Constitution to be a diver and every i Opul gets a thorough physical real test comes when the diving weighing 73 is fitted Over the mans head with other making a total weight of Over 200 he is lowered into the some men cant take the confinement of such Small places while others fail be cause of their inability to operate freely in the Clumsy All Are aware of the divers occupational which bubbles of nitrogen enter the blood Stream causing intense before a fledgling becomes a he undergoes an intensive training period of 16 the Early Days Are spent in classroom where he becomes familiar with the equipment he will use in deep from the he goes to the a cylindrical Glass tank Eon Taining about 10 feet of by he has accustomed himself to the feel of the diving suit and Salvage tools and in full regalia is lowered into the instructors watch through the Glass tank As he learns to use tools wearing unwieldy rubber he must disassemble pieces of Metal bolted together and demonstrate his ability to Weld other pieces of Metal under his next step is off the end of the naval pier into 40 feet of water where the pres sure is much greater than in the fish Here he again tries his aft underwater welding and working with bolted metals in preparation for the Day when he goes much deeper to Patch a leaking ship or pry open a jammed Hatch to Salvage if he has gotten this far his chances of graduating Are almost the final test when an Sci is sunk out in new York Bay and the Crew goes out to re float tithe project takes two during this he has had a hand la underwater plugging a leak and All other phases of Sal vase by the time he he is almost As comfortable underwater As a native new yorker is in the subway and is ready to dive the world from the students graduate to the a cylindrical Glass Unk 19 instructors Are thus Able to watch As trainee learns the Ese of Salvage the stabs and Simms