Who we are

On March 14, 1975, a 22-year-old young woman from Southern California named Donna Tobias graduated from the US Navy Second Class Dive School to become the first woman Deepsea diver in the Navy. This happened during a period of immense change in US history following the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment by Congress in 1972. Prior to Tobias earning her impressive qualification as a Naval Deepsea diver, Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt (as the current Chief of Naval Operations) issued a series of Z-grams that propelled the Navy to make changes to the roles that women were allowed to follow. These changes opened numerous opportunities for women, marking the beginning of a transition that the Navy and military would go through over the next three decades. This period ultimately resulted in the combat exclusion law, a rule which allowed women to hold any position in the military for which they could qualify, and the rule that ultimately allowed women - beginning with Tobias - to become Navy Divers.

A small number of women followed in Donna’s footsteps. For the first several years, those early divers had to be content to be assigned to diving duties at shore commands. It wasn’t until the navy changed the policy allowing women to serve aboard auxiliary ships in 1978 that women divers also headed to at sea jobs aboard repair ships and diving and salvage ships. The new USS Safeguard (ARS 50) class ships were a particularly sought after platform that were built to accommodate mixed gender crews for both officer and enlisted sailors. Despite the still small number of women that volunteered to enter the navy diving program, getting assigned to an at sea command became a top goal and was certainly the best career decision for women in all the various diving fields. Women divers quickly proved to be successful at sea, right alongside their male counterparts. Since 1975, women have entered every one of the navy’s diving communities with the exception of Naval Special Warfare (NSW). Women have become diving and salvage officers, enlisted fleet divers, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technicians as both officers and enlisted, Undersea Medical Officers (UMO), Diving Medical Technicians (DMT), Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) Diving Officers, Underwater Construction Team Divers (Seabee Divers), and Engineering Duty Officer (EDO) Diving Officers. They have served at all levels of leadership from Master Diver to Commanding Officer and across all ranks from Seaman and Ensign to the highest ranks of Master Chief and Admiral. In 2016, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter opened all combatant roles to women, which meant that women could now apply for training in Special Warfare specialties. To date, there hasn’t been a woman who has graduated from Naval Special Warfare training, but it’s only a matter of time. Screening and graduation requirements for Navy diving communities are rigorous and based on mission needs, without distinction between male and female candidates. Women who earn these qualifications do so by meeting the same demanding standards as their male counterparts, often overcoming additional challenges such as ill-fitting equipment, particularly in earlier years. Over the past 50 years, women divers remain a miniscule percentage of the total of navy divers, less than 2% when naval special warfare is factored in, slightly over 2% without naval special warfare. However historical indications over the past 50 years show that women perform as well as their male counterparts, if not even better. This year we celebrate the over 300 women who have graduated from one of the navy dive schools since 1975 and in the case of Kati Garner, in 1973 from Scuba school. There are many who were trailblazers and the first of their kind, leading the path for those who would come behind them. There are many who’s stories we have never heard and may never know but are equally worth celebrating. They all raised their hands, served with honor, and did something that most people would never have been able to accomplish. They were navy Deepsea divers. These are stories of women who had the passion, determination, and love for their country, to “Break the Surface & Shatter the Ceiling”.