IRAQ ASSAULT 03: CDT AT UMM QASR & AS ZUBAYR

AS the dust settles on the largest war fought by Australia for three decades, the full details of the ADF's contingents are emerging.

With the exception of the Special Forces Task Group's SASR SF contingent, no other Australians got as much sand on their boots in the Iraq War as the Royal Australian Navy's Clearance Diving Team 3 (CDT3).

Nicknamed 'Bubblies' within the fleet, the RAN's Clearance Divers are highly trained experts in the art of manual mine clearance and EOD, topped up with top flight Close Quarter Battle techniques from their role within the ADF's two Special Operations Command Tactical Assault Groups.

Over the years, the Clearance Divers have earned a high reputation both within the ADF and with our major ally the United States. If there is a mission that involves shipping channels or docking facilities, the call goes out to the RAN's Clearance Diving Teams.

CDT3 is the RAN's operational mine countermeasures response unit, only activated in wartime, its members are drawn from the permanent online Clearance Diving Team 1 and Clearance Diving Team 4 based in Perth and Sydney.

Armed with the latest small arms from the Spec Ops armories and equipped with some of the most technologically advanced underwater detection equipment available, the divers of CDT3 worked hard to maintain the unit's reputation during the three week war to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

FIRST A LITTLE HISTORY

The RAN established the Clearance Diving Branch in 1951, drawing on the experience of sea mine EOD during WW2 which was pioneered by Australian Naval officers in the UK during the blitz and the RN's Combined Operations Pilotage (P) Parties who undertook the clandestine reconnaissance and obstacle clearance on the channels and beaches during the Allies amphibious offensives against the Germans and combined RAN/USN diving units against the Japanese.

The Clearance Diving Branch first experienced combat in Vietnam, when Clearance Diving Team 1 was deployed to Vung Tau in 1965 tasked with protecting anchorages against Viet Cong swimmer sappers who were attempting to lay limpet mines on US ships in Vietnamese harbours.

The RAN's CDTs had traditionally trained for salt water ops in support of the surface fleet, but in Vietnam the Divers encountered many new threats far removed from the clear and cold ocean.

Soon the Divers were working the hundreds of muddy canals that stood in for roads in Vietnam's high rainfall areas and in the myriad mangrove tributaries along the coast.
To meet the rising demand for underwater warfare experts, the RAN raised a third Clearance Diving Team (CDT3) purely for operations in South Vietnam. Members were drawn from the entire Clearance Diving Branch. Competition for one of the eight slots in CDT3 was intense, with contenders put through a rigorous program of fitness, small arms and intelligence training alongside their traditional mine clearance and EOD roles.

The new Clearance Diving Team 3 deployed to Vung Tau in February 1967, operating out of the Harbour Entrance Central Post (VC Hill) in the Nui Lon area of the harbour city. The CDTs found plenty of action in Vietnam ranging from clearance operations on VC canal barricades through to special operations with the US Navy SEALs.

In late 1970, CDT3 was redeployed to the bad lands along the DMZ operating out of Da Nang as part of the EOD Mobile Unit 35, where the Bubblies found a very hot war that constantly saw them in contact with the North Vietnamese Army.

The unit was withdrawn from South Vietnam as part of the Australian draw down in the country in April 1971 and the unit was disbanded - the Divers returning to general UW with Teams 1 and 2.

CDT3 was to remain a memory for almost 20 years until the unit was re-raised in 1990 after a specific request from the US Navy to participate in the clearance of Kuwait's harbours and shipping channels during the first Gulf War.

The Bubblies deployed to Oman on Jan 31 1991, under the pretext that they would provide battle damage repair capability to the RAN's frigates and destroyers deployed to support Op Desert Storm. In reality, the CDT's had been earmarked to participate in the Very Shallow Beach Reconnaissance (VSBR) for a planned USMC amphibious assault on Kuwait and immediately flew forward into Bahrain and started working with their US Navy counterparts for the planned assault.

In the end, the amphibious assault was cancelled because a workable plan for the assault could not be determined and the Coalition armoured columns simply pushed through the layered Iraqi defences in Kuwait from Saudi Arabia.

CDT3 deployed into Kuwait in early March and immediately commenced the dangerous job of clearing the Kuwaiti ports at Mina Ash Shuaibah, Mina Doha and Kuwait Naval Base at Al Qualai'ah (KNB).

In Kuwait, CDT3 reconnected with USN EODMT 35 and USN MCM Dets 12 and the RN's Fleet Diving Group. The workload was intense, but the Bubblies gained experience with some of the most sophisticated sea mines and complex EOD tasks that would lay them in good stead for the future.

Once again the unit was disbanded on return to Australia on May 11, 1991.
This time CDT3's sleep was not so long. Small detachments of CDTs were deployed for EOD and fleet support missions in Somalia (Op Solace), the North Arabian Gulf (Op Damask) and in Bougainville (PMG) throughout the 1990s.

In September 1999, Clearance Diving Branch was tasked with raising a Clearance Diving Team to support ADF operations during the liberation of East Timor under INTERFET.

There is some confusion as to whether the CDT Team raised for East Timor was technically CDT3, but that is the designation in popular use for the CDTs East Timor Ops.

In Timor, the CDTs cleared Dili Docks for the berthing of the RAN's supply ships and the fast catamaran HMAS Jervis Bay. As INTERFET spread throughout East Timor, the Clearance Divers conducted a number of covert VSBR missions and beach surveys for amphibious lodgement of INTERFET troops during the expansion phase of Op Stabilise.

The Clearance Divers were awarded the Meritorious Unit Citation for their outstanding work in East Timor, alongside the SASR RESPFOR and the RAAF's Airfield Defence Guards.

SAND ON THE BOOTS

On February 24 2003, the latest incarnation of Clearance Diving Team 3 found themselves back in Bahrain preparing for another war in the North Arabian Gulf as part of the Aussie predeployment under Op Bastille. The stay in Bahrain was short, with the team spending a few weeks organising their stores and equipment and loading it on the US Navy's Whidbey Island-class amphibious dock landing (ADL) USS Gunston Hall.

After organising their gear, CDT3 was forward deployed to Kuwait Naval Base south of Kuwait City for final preparations during the intense diplomatic efforts in the UN to force Saddam Hussein to disarm. The diplomacy was stymied by a majority of members on the UN Security Council in particular France.

On March 18, the Australian Government finally gave up their predeployment charade, and authorised Australian Forces in theatre to prepare for combat operations under Op Falconer. The lifting of the 'predeployment' limitations on ADF activity, saw the bulk of CDT3 load up in four 110 Rover vehicles (one towing a RHIB) and join the massive British and American convoys north out of the city.

That night the team harboured up at Tactical Assembly Area Bullrush, an earth bermed defensive position in the Kuwaiti desert where they were based when hostilities began. Over the next few days the Team experienced the opening rounds of the war, with incoming Iraqi missiles landing within a few kilometres and 11 instances where they were forced to don MOPP4 chemical protection suits within the first 24 hours.

While the bulk of the crew were undergoing missile bombardment in the desert, the four man CDT3 detachment aboard the Kanimbla were called in to render safe a barge and two tugs containing almost 80 LUGM and Manta mines which had been captured on March 20 by RAN Boarding Parties (see RAN's KAA Clearance page 59).

The same day, the Divers in the desert moved forward to Assembly Area Viking just south of the Iraqi border where they could hear the battle for Umm Qasr and the Al Faw peninsula been waged by the USMC's 15 MEU and the Brit Royal Marine Commandos.
Early on March 24, the order to move into Iraq came. The Team loaded up its vehicles and crossed the berms and tank traps into the southern Iraqi port town of Umm Qasr.

OLD PORT CLEARANCE

On arrival in Umm Qasr, the Divers immediately deployed to the miraculously intact Old Port located at the mouth of the Khawr Az Zubayr (KAZ) near its confluence with the Khawr Ab'd Allah (KAA).

The Umm Qasr wharves were captured with hardly a bullet hole in them, thanks to the corruption of the Iraqi ruling class. A few days prior to the Coalition assault, the manager of Umm Qasr's docking infrastructure had crossed into northern Kuwait and negotiated with the British to leave the area undefended as long as he could keep his job after the Allies had seized the town. It is not known if the Coalition kept their side of the bargain.

Umm Qasr itself was still hot, with USMC and Royal Marine Commandos working to subdue Fedayeen and Iraqi Army and Navy defenders still shooting in the town, but the Port was like a ghost town except for packs of roving dogs.

CDT3 quickly established themselves in a vast empty warehouse on the southern fringe of the Old Port complex and then conducted a thorough surface search of all the buildings and machinery in the area for mines and IEDs (booby traps). Surprisingly the entire paved area was pretty safe with no UXO or IEDs found. Ironically an unexploded 155mm shell had buried itself within 20 metres of CDT3's warehouse and was not uncovered for almost a week.

That day, the balance of the Coalition's maritime clearance forces deployed into Umm Qasr by MH-53 helos from USS Gunston Hall. Finally in country, the Brit Fleet Diving Group and the US Naval Special Clearance Team 1 moved in beside CDT3 in the warehouse.

Diving did not commence until the morning of March 25, when CDT3 were tasked to clear the southern stretch of the Old Port including the docking area for the nearby Iraqi Navy base.

A rusty Iraqi Navy boat at anchor at the Naval wharf loaded with four LUGM-145 contact sea mines still on their trolleys on the rear deck was secured on the surface search. The first dive on the 25th uncovered another identical mine layer lying on the seabed against the wharf.

Diving in the filthy KAZ was difficult. Visibility in the muddy water was almost zero and it was very cold. To make matters worse, the tidal flow was extremely swift forcing the CDTs to limit their diving to two one hour windows at slack water. The Bubblies were forced to conduct the wharf survey by touch, a dangerous business when searching for sea mines because many of the weapons have anti-diver and anti-tamper devices fitted to them. After finding the mines, the same diver then returned to the wreck and through a combination of expert knowledge and brute strength the ordnance was skull dragged to the surface.

The Umm Qasr wharf clearance proceeded apace, interrupted by constant missile warnings and alerts sounded by the CDT's high tech chemical weapons detectors, forcing every one to drop tools and adopt MOPP4 measures every few hours.

Fighting also continued in Umm Qasr itself, with mortar fire and ambushes against the Royal Marine Commandos of 40 Commando during the night and intermittent sniper fire during the day especially in the town which was a Baath Party stronghold. As late as March 26, Brit Royal Marine Commando were engaged with mobile Iraqi armoured units on the Al Faw, only a few klicks across the KAZ from Umm Qasr. Fighting between the British and remnant Iraqi forces continued on the Al Faw until the end of March.
The fires of many small firefights could be seen from the CDTs warehouse each evening. With 82mm mortar shells landing on the Old Port perimeter on the first few nights.

Apart from the constant small arms and mortar fire, and the steady rain of flares sent up by the USN SEALs and Royal Marine Commandos securing the perimeter each night, the ADF, US and UK clearance specialists were kept awake at night by large packs of starving dogs which yelped, fought and barked all night as they scavenged for scraps around the Port. The dogs even took to entering the warehouse, sniffing around the sleeping journos and SF in the dark. A few were eventually dispatched by the Brits, who bought a vet into put them down.

Concurrent with the wharf clearances, CDT3 were called out to a number of land EOD tasks, the first at a school where the Divers found a large cache of mortar shells and destroyed a couple of Rocket Propelled Grenade rounds which were too dangerous to move. The EOD of the RPGs was complicated by a huge crowd of locals, including many children, who rocked up to watch the fireworks.

Later the next day, CDT3 operators were tasked to investigate the report of a sea mine near the road to Basrah north of the town. A closer inspection of the area uncovered a huge cache of 25 LUGM-145 sea mines at two sites near the railroad. Some of the mines were still in their packing crates and looked like they had been abandoned by the Iraqi Navy during the early stages of the Coalition advance.

On March 27, the four remaining CDT3 Bubblies who had worked the mine tug job, joined their compatriots at Umm Qasr. Their arrival fleshed the team out to 32 operators - the largest Clearance Diving Team ever deployed on Operations. While the blokes were successfully on the ground in Umm Qasr, some of the equipment including at least half of the Divers' trick M-4A5 carbines were 'lost' in the system somewhere on Gunston Hall. For the first week, some of the CDTs had to use straight M-4s from the armoury not the ones they had accessorised and zeroed.

Working alongside the Aussies were expert teams from the US Navy and Royal Navy Fleet Diving Group. The Brit's modus operandi was very similar to the CDTs, but the US Navy bought some innovative techniques and equipment to bear on the job.
The most celebrated US method, was the use of MCM Mammals. In Umm Qasr's case it was dolphins trained to detect subsurface objects. The dolphins arrived in Umm Qasr two days after their presence was announced to huge media interest in Qatar, causing some insult to the CDTs who were actually doing the hard yards under Umm Qasr's wharves.

Unfortunately the US Navy used wheat bags filled with ballast in the early stages of the dolphin training at San Diego before moving on to more complex target contacts. The sea bed off Umm Qasr was littered with lost wheat bags and other rubbish that had fallen off ships over the years and the dolphins found hundreds of contacts each of which had to be checked by a human diver. One dolphin, no doubt sick of being cooped up in his tiny tank on Gunston Hall and later at Umm Qasr went AWOL on his first mission. Fortunately the animal returned the next day. He was happy to work, he just didn't want to go back in the mobile tank.

While the dolphins had problems, a specialist USN team deployed into the port equipped with the latest generation of side scan radar equipped Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) which were capable of generating a precise computer based map of the sea bed around the port. The AUVs were highly accurate and cost effective, and no doubt are now under consideration by the RAN for acquisition.

The side scan radar was capable of picking up underwater objects and giving an accurate description, allowing the Clearance Divers to dive on 'hot' contacts and ignore the hundreds of tyres, wheat bags, hot water systems and other rubbish on the sea bed.

At approximately 2100 hrs on March 27, the bulk of the Team (except those on picquet in the three towers) and the small group of journos embedded with them settled down to watch a DVD (Zoolander) on a large screen. Suddenly a massive blast and shock wave shook the warehouse almost knocking everyone on their arse. With no follow up, everyone soon settled back into the movie, laughing at the absurdity of modern war. The next day the Team was told by intel that the bang was an Iraqi Searsucker surface to surface missile which had been aimed at Umm Qasr but fell into the mud on the Al Faw a kilometre or two away.

After completing the clearance of the Old Port and the Bulk Grain Terminal at the New Port a klick away, the Divers moved on to destroying the now large cache of LUGM-145 mines they had secured during their operations. Most of the LUGMs were EOD'ed in the KAZ off the Old Port, but the bulk cache was destroyed in a series of spectacular blasts with multiple mines going up in each one. The EOD tasks were timed to go off on the hour, so that everyone would be aware that they were not incoming artillery. Even so, it took some time to get used to the constant blasts.

Ironically from an ADF perspective on the over equipped, over paid Americans, Naval Special Clearance Team One deployed to Iraq with almost no explosives and very little high tech combat equipment. Almost all of the explosives used in Umm Qasr EOD tasks were 'borrowed' from the Aussies who also had to 'lend' the Americans night vision goggles and various items of diving equipment.The Aussies were also paid almost twice as much as their US counterparts. So much for stereotypes!

The ultimate aim of CDT3 was to clear Umm Qasr for the arrival of Coalition relief aid to ensure that no famine afflicted the Iraqi people during the Coalition assault. While it took a lot of work and many hours in the cold and filthy waters of the KAZ, the Port was declared safe enough for limited shipping early on March 28th, four days after CDT3 arrived.

The success of the clearance was evidenced by the arrival of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary transport Sir Galahad who docked amidst a media frenzy later that day - delivering a smallish load of emergency food supplies and bottled water. While the aid delivered by Sir Galahad was only enough to feed a small town for a day, its arrival was deeply symbolic. Not only had the Coalition achieved its objective to seize and then open the port for shipping, but it was also symbolic of the three nation's desire to look after the people of Iraq in the post conflict period.

Umm Qasr was finally declared open on April 9, two days after US forces took Baghdad, the ADF, US and UK contingents having done an outstanding job in a difficult environment with limited resources.

AZ ZUBAYR & THE AL FAW

After completing the Umm Qasr clearance, CDT3 was immediately retasked with more clearance work. On April 11, the entire team and their almost 50 tonnes worth of stores and equipment was loaded in trucks and deployed 20 kilometres north of Umm Qasr to the large port on the KAZ at Az Zubayr.

The Team moved into a much cleaner warehouse at Az Zubayr, sharing it with a battalion of Royal Marine Commandos, and started diving operations to clear the second port for Coalition and commercial shipping. Az Zubayr tasking was pretty much the same as Umm Qasr except the security situation was far better than when the blokes first deployed into Iraq. The US and UK clearance teams also deployed to Az Zubayr working now as a team with the Aussies.

While at Az Zubayr, the Divers were given the job of starting to clear the Al Faw peninsula of mines and unexploded ordnance left over from the fighting in the area. Without direct helicopter support, the Divers were forced to travel to the Khawr Ab'd Allah floodplain on the Al Faw in soft skinned vehicle convoys which were conducted in full high intensity warfare mode. The area was rich in discarded small arms and crawling with remnant Iraqi forces - most trying to surrender but a few still with some fight in them.

The Al Faw EOD missions allowed the CDTs to put into practice their demining and surface area EOD skills which had not been required at Umm Qasr. Hundreds of pieces of ordnance and some weapons were destroyed by the Team during the operation which was declared complete on April 28.

The success of CDT3s' Al Faw clearance attracted the attention of the Brit Head Shed, who asked the Clearance Divers to deal with a massive maritime ordnance cache found by the Royal Marine Commandos at a vast Iraqi military base 20 klicks from Az Zubayr.
The huge base had been home to the Iraqi military's primary helicopter base and was also the site of one of the most important Iraqi Navy Schools where they taught mine warfare.

A huge bunker system was sited next to the base, and CDT3 found massive stores of ordnance in every one of them. Further caches were found in sand berms scattered around the complex. The area had had its security fence looted and plenty of civilians were wandering around the area, forcing the CDTs to control the locals as well as provide security forces to protect the blokes on EOD tasks from Fedayeen and Iraqi military forces which were still operating in the area.

One patrol would secure the area, while a second patrol would work on the mountains of munitions and weapon systems recovered from the site. With no heavy lifting machines at their disposal, the Divers were forced to lug the whole lot onto trucks or into EOD demolition sites by hand. By the end of the job everyone involved had a thorough work out and were pretty fit when the job was finally done. The clearance of the Helicopter and Mining School was to be CDT3's final task in the Iraq War, the job was declared complete on May 8.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

While only a tiny fraction of the Coalition's maritime forces deployed during the assault on Iraq, the sailors of Clearance Diving Team Three completed a large percentage of the entire workload and were vital to the success of the operation. The Team found all of the mines at Umm Qasr and recovered thousands of pieces of equipment and ordnance that were either destroyed or passed onto Intelligence for exploitation to further our defence. Some of the Iraqi weapon systems and ordnance recovered had been eagerly sought after by Australian intelligence for years.

During the combat phase, CDT3 endured over 30 missile alerts, three of which impacted within close proximity to the Team's position and a number of mortar bombardments at Umm Qasr.

During MCM dives, the blokes searched and cleared 2,550,000 square metres of sea bed and cleared another 135 square kilometres of Iraqi land resulting in the destruction of over 4000 major items of ordnance and hundreds of thousands of small arms and AAA ammo.

During the war, the Divers also renewed the old friendship with the USN and RN and reinforced our reputation for excellence in military operations with our old Allies. Just as importantly, the Divers were classical Aussies and showed the big boys that we know
how to play hard.