UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams): The Navy Frogmen 1957 US Navy Training Film MN-8328 (Patreon)

more at http://quickfound.net/

Originally a public domain film from the US Navy, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_Demolition_Team

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) were a special-purpose force established by the United States Navy during World War II. They came to be considered more elite and tactical during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Their primary WWII function began with the reconnaissance and removal of natural or man-made obstacles on beaches prior to amphibious landings. They later were assigned to assist in the recovery of Space capsules/astronauts after splash down in the Mercury and Apollo space flight programs.[2] The United States Navy's Underwater Demolition Teams were pioneers in underwater demolition, closed-circuit diving, combat swimming, and midget submarine (dry and wet submersible) operations. Commando training was added making them the forerunner to the United States Navy SEAL program that exists today.

In 1983, after additional SEAL training, the UDTs were re-designated as SEAL Teams or Swimmer Delivery Vehicle Teams (SDVTs). SDVTs have since been re-designated SEAL Delivery Vehicle Teams...

Vietnam War

The Navy entered the Vietnam War in 1958, when the UDTs delivered a small watercraft far up the Mekong River into Laos. In 1961, naval advisers started training UDT in South Vietnam. The men were called the Liên Đoàn Người Nhái (LDNN), which translates as "Frogmen Team."

The UDT also carried out hydrographic surveys in South Vietnam's coastal waters.

Later, the UDTs supported the Amphibious Ready Groups operating on South Vietnam's rivers. UDTs manned riverine patrol craft and went ashore to demolish obstacles and enemy bunkers. They operated throughout South Vietnam, from the Mekong Delta (Sea Float), The Parrot Beak and French canal AO's through I Corps and the Song Cui Dai Estuary south of Danang.

Birth of Navy SEALs

In the mid-1950s, the Navy saw how the UDT's mission had expanded to a broad range of "unconventional warfare", but also that this clashed with the UDT's traditional focus on swimming and diving operations. It was therefore decided to create a new type of unit that would build on the UDT's elite qualities and water-borne expertise, but would add land combat skills, including parachute training and guerrilla/counterinsurgency operations. These new teams would come to be known as the US Navy SEALs, an acronym for Sea, Air, and Land. Initially there was a lag in the unit's creation until President John F. Kennedy took office. Kennedy recognized the need for unconventional warfare, and supported the use of special operations forces against guerrilla activity. The Navy moved forward to establish its new special operations force and in January 1962 commissioned SEAL Team ONE in NAB Coronado and SEAL Team TWO at NAB Little Creek. UDT-11 & 12 were still active on the west coast and UDT-21 & 22 on the east coast. The SEALs quickly earned a reputation for valor and stealth in Vietnam, where they conducted clandestine raids in perilous territory. In May 1983, the remaining UDT teams were reorganized as SEAL teams. UDT 11 became SEAL Team Five and UDT 12 became Seal Delivery Vehicle Team One. UDT 21 became SEAL Team Four and UDT 22 became Seal Delivery Vehicle Team Two. A new team, SEAL Team Three was established in October 1983. Since then, teams of SEALs have taken on clandestine missions in war-torn regions around the world, tracking high-profile targets such as Panama's Manuel Noriega and Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, and playing integral roles in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan...