New Zealand Navy Train for the Search and Recovery with AUV

13 Mei 2021

Train for Search and Recovery with Remus AUV (all photos : RNZN)

Skilling up the search Our Navy’s Military Hydrographic Group recently teamed up with the New Zealand Police for a series of exercise scenarios in the Marlborough Sounds, including the grim task of search and recovery of a missing recreational diver.

Every year there are around ten underwater fatalities in New Zealand. Thankfully many of the victims are found relatively quickly due to the prompt action of the Police National Dive Squad. In some cases Police have called in HMNZS Matataua’s Military Hydrographic group to assist them in search and recovery missions to help narrow down any search area and quickly identify an object of interest – such as a missing diver, unexploded ordnance or discarded evidence such as knives or firearms.

The Military Hydrographic Group, part of HMNZS Matataua, utilises state-of-the-art Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) that can:

-remotely dive to depths of 100 metres

-travel at five knots with a sonar scanning range of 50m in any direction

-detect objects of interest on the sea or lake floor, or even drifting in the water

“Once the sonar has identified the missing diver and we’ve ascertained the exact depth and search co-ordinates, the information is given immediately to the Police dive team who then then effect the recovery. It’s obviously a sombre time for everybody when the person we’re seeking is found but we also take quiet satisfaction in the fact we have found them.” ~ Chief Petty Officer Clark, HMNZS Matataua. (HMNZS Matataua is a commissioned ship in our Navy and is made up of three distinctive groups - hydrographers, divers, and logistics that operate primarily within the littoral or coastal waters).

(RNZN)