Frogman

A SEAL Delivery Team member climbs aboard a delivery vehicle before launching from the back of the submarine USS Philadelphia.

A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater in a tactical capacity that includes military, and in some European countries, police work. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver, combatant diver, or combat swimmer. The word frogman first arose in the stage name the "Fearless Frogman" of Paul Boyton in the 1870s[1] and later was claimed by John Spence, an enlisted member of the U.S. Navy and member of the OSS Maritime Unit, to have been applied to him while he was training in a green waterproof suit.[2]

The term frogman is occasionally used to refer to a civilian scuba diver, such as in a police diving role.[3]

In the United Kingdom, police divers have often been called "police frogmen".[4]

Some countries' tactical diver organizations include a translation of the word frogman in their official names, e.g., Denmark's Frømandskorpset; others call themselves "combat divers" or similar.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Perry, Tony (2013-11-03). "John Spence dies at 95; Navy diver and pioneering WWII 'frogman'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  3. ^ "The hidden world of police divers". 2010-06-14. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
  4. ^ "APPENDIX'D' Relationship between the Police and the Schools". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 2023-03-07.