Goggles : Godfrey, RAN Clearance Diving Team 3

Places
Accession Number REL31400.001
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Personal Equipment
Physical description Elastic, Foam rubber, Plastic
Location Main Bld: Peacekeeping & Recent Conflicts Gallery
Maker Oakley
Place made United States of America
Date made c 2000s
Conflict Iraq, 2003-2013
Description

Pair of Oakley 'H2O' 'L Frame' plastic goggles. The flexible goggle frame has a black and grey mock carbon fibre finish, and a single clear plastic lens. The facepiece is padded with foam backed with a soft 'polarfleece' fabric. Ventilation holes in the top and bottom of the frame are covered by a thin layer of grey foam, which has been marked in black felt pen with the name 'GODFREY'. The black elastic head strap is marked with the Oakley trademark (an elongated letter 'O'), and is adjusted by a pair of black plastic slides. The inside of the band has three non-slip bands of latex.

History / Summary

Pair of Oakley 'H2O L Frame' goggles worn by a member of Royal Australian Navy Clearance Diving Team 3. AUSCDT THREE was deployed in support of Operation Falconer in February 2003. In early March, they took up residence at the Kuwait Naval Base on the coast not far from Kuwait city, where they engaged in equipment preparation and training, and on the morning of 24 March, they crossed the border into Iraq. Headquarters and accommodation were established at the old port of Umm Qasr where AUSCDT THREE divers quickly located a sunken minelayer with four live mines onboard. The team also participated in the clearing of ordinance from within the town itself. Umm Qasr was declared open on 9 April, and AUSCDT THREE immediately moved twenty kilometres further north, to the port of Khawr Az Zubayr. This port was also cleared in conjunction with other coalition dive teams, and explosive ordnance disposal patrols on the Al Faw peninsula were undertaken.