The original diving dress was used during the latter part of the salvage efforts on the Royal George at Spithead in 1840.  This operation, carried out by the Royal Engineers, marked the beginning of the Royal Navy’s real interest in diving.  Since then the Royal Navy has operated and trained its own divers, making a remarkable contribution to diving throughout the world.  Immense progress has been made in the intervening years, especially over periods of trials and experiments carried out in close co-operation with such great men as Sir Robert Davis and Professor John Haldane.  For years Britain held the world’s deep-diving record and still leads in many of the deep-diving techniques.

The Second World War produced the need for a diver with a self-contained streamlined equipment to deal with the menace of the influence mine and the underwater sabotage charge.  From this requirement have evolved many of the breathing equipments used in the Services today.

The first really practicable self-contained breathing apparatus was designed in 1878 and used successfully in work in flooded collieries in 1880 and by diver Alexander Lambert in his famous exploit in saving the flooded Severn Tunnel in 1882.   However, it was Jacques Cousteau who popularised the use of self-contained air breathing by the introduction of the Cousteau demand valve. 

Deep diving employing breathing mixtures of oxygen and helium is a comparatively recent innovation, but already it has been proved that man can live and work in depths considerably in excess of 400 metres for days at a time.

Diving, or marine technology, is a vigorous young science that provides a tremendous challenge.  There is no doubt that, with the combined efforts of the seaman, the engineer and medical science, tremendous progress into the research and exploration of inner space will continue.
           
Nowadays professional diving in various categories is carried out by the Royal Navy, the Royal Mariners and the Army, as well as in industry.  In addition to professional diving, facilities exist in all the services for sub-aqua diving as a part of adventurous training.

The Royal Navy and the Royal Naval Scientific Service are responsible for co-ordinating the material requirements and research into all service diving