The Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service divers have been ready to attend underwater incidents for over ten years. The team is made up of members from Royal Navy, commercial, and sports divers, many of whom started their diving careers within the armed forces.

These volunteer divers will be working in some of the most hostile conditions, including underwater work in zero visibility, at night, under ice, inside or adjacent to sinking or sunk vessels and in dirty and possibly contaminated water.

No member of the team is ever ordered to dive (although they can be ordered not to dive). The team has to maintain a high standard of discipline. This is not only for the safety of the diver but for the success of the rescue mission.

Where possible, commercial diving protocols are used to ensure diver safety. Therefore a full team of divers could be arranged for days where the risk assessment indicates a high degree of risk (e.g. powerboat races).

However, callouts relating to emergency incidents require rapid response, for example investigating reports of a car entering the water, aeroplane crashes or children falling through ice. Those trapped underwater have little time to survive and pre-arranged emergency response protocols are used. These permit a diver, acting in response to a rescue situation, to attempt to recover persons before the arrival of the full dive team.