Underwater divers may be employed in any branch of an armed force, and their scope of operation icludes:
- Search and recovery
- Search and rescue
- Underwater surveys
- Explosive ordnance disposal
- Demolition
- Underwater engineering
- Salvage
- Ships husbandry
- Reconnaissance
- Infiltration
- Sabotage
- Counter filtration
- Underwater combat
- Security.
Underwater missions undertaken by military divers can be very dangerous, but they are essential to many missions and campaigns.