Navy SEABEES dive upon Thule Published Sept. 3, 2008 By Master Sgt. Ben Huseman 821st Support Squadron THULE AIR BASE, Greenland -- Eighteen members of Underwater Construction Team Two from Port Hueneme, Calif., completed a two-week diving operation in the end of August at the northernmost deepwater port in the world. The operation was the first phase in a two-phase project to remove debris from along the DeLong Pier at Thule Air Base, Greenland, and dredge the berth from an average depth of 24 to 30 feet. The port, which is open for approximately 30 days out of the year, is vital to the success of Thule's space superiority missions in a very harsh arctic climate. Five cargo ships and two tankers carrying almost 15 million gallons of fuel were offloaded this year. These supplies are essential to the survival of more than 600 military and civilian Thule residents. A 2007 dredge study of the pier berth space performed by the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center showed numerous obstructions on the ocean floor to include old timber piles, large boulders and construction debris almost 50 years old. The 30th Naval Construction Regiment, also from Port Hueneme, tasked UCT TWO to support NAVFAC ESC in the debris removal. The divers from UCT TWO were at Thule for a total of 14 days. Each diver spent about two hours in the water per dive searching for debris and attaching necessary crane rigging to remove the debris. Every diver on the team made at least three dives in the harbor that is ice-free only two to three months of the year. Warm water is pumped to the diver's wetsuits to combat hypothermia while the divers are underwater. During the diving operations, 102 items were removed from along the pier, including 30 large truck tires, 24 sections of steel pipe, eight timber piles, seven pieces of steel caissons and five large boulders weighing between 5,000 and 17,000 pounds. Removing these items prepared the berth for phase two of the project to remove smaller debris and silt from the bottom of North Star Bay adjacent to the pier. UCT TWO was established as an independent unit of the Naval Construction Force, US Pacific Fleet, in 1973. It is one of two UCTs in the Navy. Since its establishment, UCT TWO has deployed to every naval installation in the Pacific as well as several sites in the Atlantic, Arctic and Antarctic. The team currently deploys three 15-member air detachments on a 6/12-month deployment/homeport cycle.