Photo By Emily Swedlund | NIANTIC, Conn. (Oct. 17, 2024) Navy Diver 1st Class Connor Houtchens supervises as the...... read more read more
GROTON, Conn. – The Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL) Dive Department has completed an expansion of its dive locker, a project that began in summer 2022.
The term “dive locker” refers to a dedicated team of highly trained Navy divers, who are attached to a Navy command and whose primary mission is to support underwater/hyperbaric activities. These unique professionals maintain and operate the specialized equipment needed to safely perform diving duties.
The expansion of the dive locker provides NSMRL researchers with more opportunities to directly collaborate with subject matter experts who can safely plan and execute necessary dives in support of NSMRL’s undersea research mission.
NSMRL is one of only two manned research diving units in the Navy, which provides researchers with the unique opportunity to work one-on-one with their ‘customers,’ i.e., the community they are working to assist. NSMRL’s capabilities include a 10-foot dive pool, a dive boat, and two state-of-the-art hyperbaric chambers, one of which is also capable of hypobaric operations up to 70,000 ft of altitude. These chambers are used to improve the performance and safety of undersea warfighters.
In 2019, NSMRL’s dive locker consisted of only five members: three enlisted divers, a contractor, and a civilian. This team has since grown to include six enlisted divers, two civilians and two contractors, a dive medical technician, a master diver, and an undersea medical officer.
“We [the divers] really got to assist with drafting the instructions and building up NSMRL’s dive program from scratch,” said Navy Diver 1st Class John Ahnen, who joined NSMRL in October 2023. “We got the chance to establish a program that does everything the correct way.”
“Working at NSMRL, we get to interact directly with the people responsible for the protocols and rules that we [divers] have to follow,” continued Ahnen. “It allows you to understand why these guidelines exist and how they came to be. When you’re a new diver, you’re given all these rules, but you don’t necessarily understand the ‘why.’ But when you come to a place like NSMRL, you get to learn directly from the source. And when we leave, we can take that understanding and deliver it back to the fleet.”
The regulations and parameters that now guide diving programs did not always exist. In the 1940s, when Dr. George Bond, the father of saturation diving and a former commanding officer of NSMRL, was working on the Genesis hyperbaric projects to establish the possibility of saturation diving, there were almost no regulations in place.
“During Bonds’ time, it used to be that non-divers could volunteer for projects,” said Lou Deflice, dive department head and retired master diver. “NSMRL scientists are directly responsible for changing that, and creating some of the biggest safety advances in Navy diving, whether that’s regulations for SONAR or blast and sound, or guidelines for safe diving temperatures.”
Before the dive locker expansion, NSMRL had to rely heavily on partners and local volunteers, which restricted researchers’ ability to test their protocols. Now, with six full-time Navy divers and support civilians, NSMRL researchers can rely on having a robust, in-house team of professionals to carry out their diving or hyperbaric research. NSMRL’s locker can also assist local SCUBA qualified submariners with their required training and proficiency dives.
Additionally, NSMRL’s divers are active in the local New London and Groton communities. They have participated in local school career day and STEM events, volunteered as the in-pool support for the Technology and Engineering Education Association (CTEEA) SeaPerch Regional Championship event for 10 years running, have participated in the 2024 Boston Navy Week and 2025 Hartford/Springfield Navy Week, and have received recognition within the command for their work to advance the renovation of NSMRL’s hypo/hyperbaric chamber complex.
“I always say that our divers are the undersea warriors that NSMRL’s mission and vision are focused on,” said Deflice. “Divers come here with examples of their real-world problems, and then they leave with real-world solutions. The things we’re doing are directly impacting the fleet, because the fleet is right here with us.”
NSMRL, part of Navy Medicine Research & Development and based out of Groton, Connecticut, sustains the readiness and superiority of U.S. undersea warfighters through innovative health and performance research and works to lead the world in delivering science solutions to ensure undersea warrior dominance.
| Date Taken: | 09.29.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.29.2025 14:31 |
| Story ID: | 549583 |
| Location: | GROTON, CONNECTICUT, US |
| Web Views: | 136 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NSMRL Completes Dive Locker Expansion in Support of Diver Health and Readiness, by Emily Swedlund, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
