Lieutenent Commander Catherine Ker RN

A woman standing in open water with her head and shoulders above water. She is wearing black diving gear and pointing a gun in the direction of the camera.
Photograph © Anita Corbin

Interview: Catherine on her career

 

Visual description of the photograph

 

Biography

 

First Woman to qualify as a mine warfare and clearance diving officer in the Royal Navy

October 2015, Defence Diving School at Port Solent, Hampshire

b.1982, Hampshire

Lieutenant Commander Catherine Ker was Britain’s first woman to qualify as a Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving Officer in the Royal Navy. The Clearance Diving Branch has been in existence since the 1950’s. Ker graduated (from the Defence Dive School) in 2010, achieving her first at the age of 28, the first woman in 60 years to hold this position and first after the policy changed to allow women to dive. Despite being physically smaller. Ker at 5 feet 2 inches tall must wear the same gear as her male colleagues, gear that weighs twice her body weight.

Return to Exhibition Tour