Russian air diving and equipment

The Russians produced 4 types of helmets:

In this section you will only find the air helmets. Vist the Russian Mixed gas diving helmets collection for more information on gas hats.

	In the 1971 Russian Navy diving manual you can see one of the big challenges in using a 3-bolt suit. It takes 4 tenders to get the diver inside ! When you still use 3-bolt suits today it is sensible to put a drysuit zip in the back. This will spare the rubber collar and helps your tenders in a great way.

An Early 3 bolt 3 window air diving helmet model 111-3. The earlier helmets did not have the handle on the top. The black rubber gasket is removed and the neck ring of the suit is inserted providing a water tight seal. There is no telephone speaker on this helmet.	The serial number is 1091 and the date is 1964. This model superceeded the model UVS50. Photo courtesy of Jan Hasselbach


3-bolt 1977	3-bolt 1989	3-bolt 1998. The corselet looks rather flat on this one


A Russian 3-bolt from 1986. At the back you see the air inlet in the middle. Behind the cover is also the inlet for the telephone. The air outlet is operated by the diver with his head.

Another nice series of a Russian 3-bolt. On this hat you can spot the speaker outlet of the telephone near the front glass. On older hats you do not see this feature. Courtesy of HYB.

Russian hat in full action. Courtesy of HDS SA.		Another 3-bolt in action. Here you can clearly see telephone and air supply entering the helmet through the same entrance. The diver is wearing a winter suit where gloves are fitted to the sleeves. A summer suit has seals around the wrists.


Russian 12-bolt 3-light helmet from 1992. Notice the welding glass in the front glass.	Same hat: production date unknown. Did you know the rumors that the Russians now still produce hats just to satisfy collectors.......


A Russian 12-bolt from 1970

Russian 3-bolt 12-bolt helmet.
It is possible to use this helmet with a 3-bolt suit and with a 12-bolt suit.
Build in 1991.

All of the above pictures with the courtesy of Toucan 2

SONAR Ltd of St Petersburg, Russia use the 12/3 bolt diving equipment at present

The diver dresses to dive with the 3/12 bolt helmet. The Heavy green suit has integral mitts to protect the Diver's hands from the cold water.	The Divers boots are made from rubber with lead soles and brass toe caps for protection.

With the diver on the ladder the heavy lead weights are fixed to the divers chest and back.	The helmet is tightened onto the corselet before the diver enters the water.

Final adjustments are made.	The diver descends the ladder.

The diver returns to the ladder. Many thanks to Sergey Kulpin -Director of SONAR Ltd. for permission to use these pictures. We are indebted to Konstantin Korchagin for his help with the Russian Section Dive Club SADKO Nikolaev Ukraine On a warm day the Diver prepares for a dive . Photo courtesy of Valentin. To see the Russian Helmets in dive action follow this link