French commando frogmen
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France has a large commando frogman tradition. Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a naval officer in World War II and helped much to set up France's commando frogmen. France further developed the role of commando frogmen in the First Indochina War.
Since the 1950s, the commando frogmen of the French Navy are brought together in the Commando Hubert, the only Commando marine having combat swimmers. They operate from the ship Le Malin, and this is a very elitist special forces unit.
The french intelligence service DGSE has also combat-swimmers brought together in the Centre Parachutiste d'Entrainement aux Opérations Maritimes (CPEOM, "maritime operations training parachutist center") at Roscanvel. First, the two unit were one.
These are the only French combat-diver units. Other French units have divers, including:
- the military engineer units of the French Army have two types of divers:
- the spécialistes d'aide au franchissement (SAF, "specialists for help in clearing"): swimmers trained to recon and clear banks and bridges to permit their use by military vehicles.
- the nageurs d'intervention offensive (NIO, swimmers ""for offensive actions") : the accomplish missions similar to combat swimmers but in rivers and estuaries, to destroy bridges inside ennemy territory for example.
- the GIGN and RAID counter-terrorist groups have divers trained to assault a hijacked ship.
[edit] List of operations
Not all of these operations involved diving.
- 1982-1984: Lebanon
- 1985 July 10: Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor in New Zealand with limpet mines. A civilian aboard the Rainbow Warrior died.
- 1985 October 7: Intervention with Delta Force on the liner Achille Lauro which was seized by a Palestinian gang in the Mediterranean.
- 1987: Actions in the Persian Gulf.
- 1988 May 5: a hostage rescue in New Caledonia: see Ouvéa cave hostage taking.
- 1991: Embargo in the Persian Gulf.
- 1992 December - 1993: Somalia: Operation Restore Hope.
- 1994: Rwanda: evacuating foreign nationals caught up in a civil war.
- 1997 March - 2000: Mission Alba in Albania.
- 1999: Operation Allied Force in ex-Yugoslavia.
- 2001 July: Security at the G8 meeting in Genoa in Italy.
- 2001 October: Afghanistan and/or Philippines: Operation Enduring Freedom.
