Diving on the wreck of the CSS Georgia is made even more difficult because of the near zero visibility. Divers wear heavy suits of canvas, boots, gloves and big yellow helmets. Each has cables, one red and one green. This supplies air and guidance from the surface. There is always the risk of entangling those cables which brings about a very serious situation.
This is an extraordinary project for the Navy divers from the Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit, based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach. This group consists of some of the world's premier divers.
Over the last three decades the group has salvaged commercial airliner crashes, the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia and the engines, guns and turret of the USS Monitor. They made immediate repairs on the USS Cole in Yemen and responded to the 2007 interstate bridge collapse in Minnesota. They also saw duty after Hurricane Katrina (ten years ago) and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
Service with the group can also be deadly. In February 2013, two divers drowned in a practice pool in Maryland.
An Elite Band. --Old B-Runner
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