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Background: U. S. Navy divers who are prospective SEALAB III Aquanauts undergo an intensive training program to improve their skills as divers and in a number of specialized fields for ocean floor work.

U. S. Navymen in training for SEALAB III are all qualified first class dicers. All have attended a 26-week diving course qualifying them in the use of self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) for depths to 130 feet and hard-hat diving equipment, breathing helium-oxygen, to depths of 320 feet.

Most prospective SEALAB III Aquanauts enter training from diving assignments in the Fleet such as ship's divers, underwater demolition teams (UDT), explosive ordinance disposal units (EOD), and salvage units. Other trainees have previously had Navy or civilian diving experience.

The training shown in this film takes place sat the Experimental Diving Unit at Washington, D. C.

The Aquanauts undergo simulated dives to a depth of 600 feet to familiarize the trainees with the various pieces of diving equipment to be used in the actual SEALAB III operation for next Fall off the West Coast.

Medical checks are made to determine the efforts of the sustained pressures undergone during the training.

Another phase of the experiments in the Experimental Diving Unit is the recording of the divers' voices on tape in attempts to electronically alleviate the distortion created by the mixture of helium and oxygen in the "air" breathed by the trainees.

This testing is being done preparatory to the actual SEALAB III operation.