Page 49: of Marine Technology Magazine (September 2025)

Source: Donna Tobias

Source: Sue Trukken

Hull Technician Firemen Donna Tobias, the ? rst Ensign Sue Trukken, the ? rst woman to attend woman to achieve the status of US Navy Deep diving of? cer training at the Washington Navy

Sea Diver, in the 200-pound Mk V diving suit in Yard in 1980, fully suited out in the 200-pound air con? guration n March 1975. At 5’5” and 135 Mk V dive helmet and suit during training dives pounds, she acknowledged that her most persistent at Basic Diving Of? cer training, Washington Navy challenge was working with the Mk V diving rig. Yard in 1980. or more than six decades, spanning from 1905 to the with the mixed gas version being roughly 100 pounds heavier. late 1970s, the U.S. Navy’s diving apparatus for deep For early women divers such as Tobias, the substantial weight ocean operations and salvage remained fundamen- of the equipment, often exceeding their own body weight,

F tally unchanged. During this period, the demographic posed considerable dif