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The Navy Today
Continuing Commitments

Beginning in the 1990s, long-standing efforts to renew the ships and equipment of Canada's navy began to produce results, with new vessels entering service. At the same time, the navy continued to fulfill national commitments to alliance operations and, following terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001, to "the war on terror".

Clearance Diver's Suit
Clearance Diver's Suit

Canadian clearance divers use diving equipment like this to carry out mine countermeasures work along with other underwater duties.

The equipment seen here is a "rebreather", drawing on Second World War experience, that re-circulates the gases the diver breathes so as not to emit large clouds of bubbles that could be detected by an enemy. The equipment is also silent and non-magnetic to avoid detonating mines triggered by sound or the presence of metal. Canadian clearance divers have used several models of "rebreather" during the decades following the Second World War, and continue to use such equipment today.

Naval Museum of Alberta





Model, HMCS Toronto
Model, HMCS Halifax
HMCS Montréal
HMCS Montréal
Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel
HMCS Oriole
Esquimalt Base
HMCS Chicoutimi Ball Cap
Clearance Diver's Suit
Colin Peek Standing in Front of the Sea-King Helicopter in His Gear
Boarding Party Coming Aboard the Whitehorse