TheNaval Air Command Sub Aqua Club (NACSAC) was an organization within theRoyal Navy that oversawsportsand technical diving training activities fornaval aviation andfleet units. Today, it has branches atRNAS Culdrose (HMS Seahawk) andRNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron). Both bases provide training, and club members regularly dive into their local areas on weekends. Diving instruction, from beginner to advanced level, is offered under the auspices of theBritish Sub-Aqua Club. In 2005, NACSAC was closed down as an organization in favour of theRoyal Navy Sub Aqua Club, which is what Lieutenant Graham and CPOLarn had wanted from the outset of NACSAC, which was only given that title since HMS Vernon, the RN Diving School atPortsmouth would not support the idea of sport diving within the service.[citation needed]
In the early 1960s, a group ofchief petty officers from the Naval Air Command formedamateur diving clubs and mounted annual expeditions.[1] These clubs were first based at thenaval air stations ofPortland (HMS Osprey),Culdrose, andYeovilton and conducted diving under the auspices of anumbrella organization which became known as the "Naval Air Command Sub Aqua Club" (NACSAC).[2] The club's first chairman wasLieutenant Roy Graham (1924–2007), anengineer officer who had begun his diving career aboard the aircraft carrierHMS Victorious. Whilst inGibraltar, Graham was in charge of diving training on this ship. Following a shallow water diving course with 24 entrants and only himself and aRoyal Air Force medical officer finishing the rigorous training, Graham became the onlyFleet Air Arm officer with anaval diving qualification.[1]
Chief Petty Officer Richard Larn was the organization's Diving Officer from its formation in 1960, who, apart from a period on HMS Bulwark between 1967 and 1968, continued to organize training and expeditions until his retirement from the navy in 1971. One of the club's first projects was to send a team of divers to theIsles of Scilly to find a historic Royal Navy ship,HMS Association, a 90-gun ship of the line lost in thegreat naval disaster in 1707.[3][4] In 1964 approximately ten NACSAC members - including the shipwreck expert and writer,Chief Petty Officer Richard Larn[5] - arrived on Sicily, they were believed to be only the second group of divers to visit the area. Their initial dives began a series of navy visits that continued for four years.[3][6] In 1964, 1965, and 1966,[7] The divers could only access theWestern Rocks, but barely around the Gilstone Ledge,[3] where a later expedition managed to locate the wreck ofHMS Association in 1967.[8] The rediscovery of the site also led to more government legislation, notably theProtection of Wrecks Act 1973, passed in an attempt to preserve British historic wreck sites as part of the maritime heritage.[9]
The annual expeditions, organized to promote diving as an exciting sport, had become a key focus of NACSAC activities. Despite changes to theRoyal Navy Fleet command structure, NACSAC flourished, at one time having branches in seven Fleet Air Arm bases, until superseded by the Royal Navy Sub Aqua Club.
