My father was an underwater welder. His ship was hit during the battle Midway. Him and another welder was lowered down the side of the ship and a crane lowered a piece of metal the size of a mattress. He told me he could hear and feel his ship firing it's large cannons and other artillery and could hear the the Arial combat while the two patched their ship. He was also a salvage diver after the war where he also did a lot of underwater welding. I know this is a welding video but I am very proud of my father's accomplishments and contributions to our country, fighting in WWII and the Korean War, I'm equally disappointed that people consider the Kardashians as heroes but couldn't begin to tell you who a real hero is.
No way i could’ve done that?! Shit 😪 I just got a degree in underwater processing we make Underwater puppy pads and absorbent sheets…. Business hasn’t been great 😞
I once knew a wet-welder who worked on rigs in the North Sea off the Scottish coast. I asked him if he enjoyed the work and he said not particularly, but he enjoyed having three houses and a villa in Spain.
I wanted to be a welder when I was in high school but my Dad insisted I attend University rather than go into the trades. Now I work for the federal government and watch youtube 8 hours a day making $50 a hour.
My Scuba instructor was a wet welder, especially for deep water, with a multi-tank trimix system plus welder.... he got called out once every few years or so, thats it. I mostly remember bc his assistant instructor had to take over for a week or so when he happened to get a call out to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
@@patrickmartin2689 I don't remember if I ever asked... I took the class a little over a decade ago. The real question is who gets paid more, the wet welder OR the dive partner who watches out for sharks with a spear gun?
@@chungadin 2 tanks of tri-mix... what's so outlandish about that? Trimix is just the next level of special blend air above the nitrox that I am certified for. Which all that means is that they re-balance the pressurized air that they put in your tank with pure gases to accommodate deeper and longer dives with (iirc) better oxygen absorption and less risk of the Benz. But this doesn't remove the need for a safety stop, everything is treated the same as a typical scuba setup; which is compressed air straight out of the atmosphere. However with mixed air, you might find that you don't feel as worn out or that your tank seems to last a little longer. (At least in my experience with nitrox)
I have a good friend who tried out underwater welding for about a year. He’s about 6’3” 285 lbs and told me one of the contractors just simply told him, “we don’t have any wet suits that fit you, and you’re too big and take up too much space in our sub” lol He eventually came back to the refineries with us in Houston.
@@tophernuttle420 yup. I'm "only" 6'2" and have all kinds of neck problems from having to look down on tables and things I'm working on for long hours with everything built for a max of 5'10".
As a commercial diver I can back him on this. Actual welding underwater is less than 1% of what divers do. You'll do more cutting/ burning underwater than actual weld applications. Cutting/Burning underwater is similar to air arc or gouging.
I guess my cousin got pretty lucky. His two most recent job were fixing up one of the ships that was bombed on pearl harbor, and the other was taking appart an oil rig, both of which were completely underwater
When I was a kid I was told the most needed professional on the planet was underwater welder. There was such a huge demand and only a handful of people doing it. 25 years later I found out that underwater boom lasted about 3 years.
If all you want to do is weld then work is sporadic, but if you get on with a dive company that does all kinds of underwater work…construction, recovery, inspections, etc you’ll have consistent work. Being able to wet weld is just a way to get your foot in the door.
Commercial diving/ underwater welding is a single man's game. You travel a lot and your first job you'll be choking hose on deck as a tender or sweeping shop floors making a little more than min wage in the Gulf.
Yea wet welding is really only something a small fraction of welders will do. So many people say that’s what they’re gonna do but probably 5-10% of us actually do
Im not a welder or want to be but i wish more people would be this honest with more young people when being mentors or teachers 😊 stay safe wish you the best
He’s only being partially truthful, though let’s keep it a buck. He’s welding. School is in Wyoming and there isn’t a single ocean or really any large body of water in Wyoming so the demand for underwater welding is going to be low meaning that there’s not gonna be a lot of jobs in his location, but if you’re somewhere in Florida, where I live there’s going to be more jobs not a lot but more I’m gonna assume he unintentionally told a half truth
There is a lot of demand for underwater welding. Because it is dangerous and stressful. New blood is always looked for. Most of the underwater welding will be months at sea for emergency ship repairs but mostly for working on oil platforms in which you will work and live in pressurized compartments for weeks at a time because the trip down and back up takes days and is very dangerous in itself.
Spent years as an underwater welder and salvor and eventually owned my own business but the welding portion was very minimal. 95% of work wasn’t really welding related and was more inspections, ships husbandry and the occasional welding on certain projects.
Ofshore drilling rigs have welders in the water quite often. Just because you never got the call doesn't mean it does not exist. A short google will show this welding school is in Wyoming, which is landlocked so shocking that you dont see it their
For the people in the comments that don't understand. There is still commercial diving work out there but they very rarely do a lot of welding underwater. Also they more commonly teach divers to weld and not welders to dive. So you can still be a commercial diver but you'll never do enough welding to call yourself a "underwater welder"
Been welding and fabricating for nearly 20 years all over the country and I’ve never met an underwater welder yet. But I’ve met 1000’s of cousins and friends of underwater welders. They must be extremely popular guys because everyone knows them but they stay hidden from me 🤷♂️
The military is what i tell all kids after HS. I iust finished paying off school loans 11yrs later and i dnt use any of it. Always think of where the future is going and try to capitalize on it. I could always fall back on what i went to school for but i have many trades and i now do what i love. Life doesent make sense if your not happy!💪💯
There’s divers. We do everything under water that’s done on the surface and more. Welding is one of the things divers do and damn few wet weld. For every 100 hundreds under you might do 1 of welding unless you work for a company that does a lot ships husbandry or specializes in welding. Diving is a far better career to get into than welding but there’s less openings. Best you can do is get your cdl,a, welding cert, and dive certs. Learn to build staircases and fit steel. You will never lack for work. When you are on a job always ask to run the equipment or drive the boat. Become an all around hand and never be afraid to take charge or get in any one’s face esp about safety. Also take the 40 hour safety course to be a working safety man. Being a welder is a guaranteed way to get on a job but there’s better ways to spend your life than burning rod all day. bosses face.
When i was getting out of the navy, there was a school that was heavily advertising at the time for underwater welding down in Charleston, SC. I think it specifically was a commercial diving school, as opposed to a weldong school, though.
Maybe not a lot of wet welding jobs in the middle of America. But I know. A lot of guys that did underwater welding around the world. They would work for 3 months then take the rest of the year off to travel around and go crazy. Only one guy died from actual under water welding.
A actually a underwater welder, its contractor based not employee based . Hes right . In the 5 jobs ive done ive been able to retire and start investing im oroperties after 30 years shipyard welding
There used to be thousands of welding jobs and professional welders around where I live, but they’ve all been replaced by robots and other things so they aren’t needed. The rest of them moved to somewhere that hasn’t been taken over yet. If your thinking about going into welding I advise you to really do your research on how much you will actually make in your area. I live in Ohio where there’s a place called Hobart, it’s a massive facility with hundreds of welders. But guess what, they start at 15-20 and hour. Which is exactly what you’ll make if you go down the street and box pizzas. It’s just not worth it anymore and they are all being replaced, and these big companies on know how much cheaper and more efficient it is.
When I started it’s all anyone ever said “o those underwater welders make bank “. Yeah yeah . Got my LA city cert them semi auto and the rest is gold son.
Someone keeps deleting my comment with the name of the school but it’s out of Galveston. You will spend most of you career as a tender and you’re only able to perform a set amount of deep dives (saturation dives) in your career but that does t mean the opportunity isn’t there.
I spent over $18,000 getting my dive helmet and my dive gear went to Seattle dive School did this schooling and did the physical and they told me I couldn't do it because I had some physical issues I was close but no cigar
My father was an underwater welder. His ship was hit during the battle Midway. Him and another welder was lowered down the side of the ship and a crane lowered a piece of metal the size of a mattress. He told me he could hear and feel his ship firing it's large cannons and other artillery and could hear the the Arial combat while the two patched their ship. He was also a salvage diver after the war where he also did a lot of underwater welding.
I know this is a welding video but I am very proud of my father's accomplishments and contributions to our country, fighting in WWII and the Korean War, I'm equally disappointed that people consider the Kardashians as heroes but couldn't begin to tell you who a real hero is.
Respects to your dad man 🫡🫡
😊
Your dad is the man
🫡🇺🇸🇬🇧
Respect 🫡
That's why I got my Degree in underwater basket weaving.
Smart guy here
🤣🤣
Your teacher told you that to😂😂
No way i could’ve done that?! Shit 😪 I just got a degree in underwater processing we make Underwater puppy pads and absorbent sheets…. Business hasn’t been great 😞
Mine is in underwater fire-supression
I once knew a wet-welder who worked on rigs in the North Sea off the Scottish coast. I asked him if he enjoyed the work and he said not particularly, but he enjoyed having three houses and a villa in Spain.
Can i get some more information?
I wanted to be a welder when I was in high school but my Dad insisted I attend University rather than go into the trades. Now I work for the federal government and watch youtube 8 hours a day making $50 a hour.
Good for you
Thank your Dad!
What is your Degree in?
@@micahbowman4013 Physical Anthropology.
@@DonKeecockwhat do you do? The irs?
My Scuba instructor was a wet welder, especially for deep water, with a multi-tank trimix system plus welder.... he got called out once every few years or so, thats it. I mostly remember bc his assistant instructor had to take over for a week or so when he happened to get a call out to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
How much did he get paid for one gig though 🤔🤔😁😁✌✌
@@patrickmartin2689 I don't remember if I ever asked... I took the class a little over a decade ago.
The real question is who gets paid more, the wet welder OR the dive partner who watches out for sharks with a spear gun?
@@mherrmann81687 oh shyt didn't know that part 🤯🤯😳😳😫😫😭😭
If he's diving scuba "multitank tri-mix" he is probably a liar!
@@chungadin 2 tanks of tri-mix... what's so outlandish about that? Trimix is just the next level of special blend air above the nitrox that I am certified for. Which all that means is that they re-balance the pressurized air that they put in your tank with pure gases to accommodate deeper and longer dives with (iirc) better oxygen absorption and less risk of the Benz.
But this doesn't remove the need for a safety stop, everything is treated the same as a typical scuba setup; which is compressed air straight out of the atmosphere. However with mixed air, you might find that you don't feel as worn out or that your tank seems to last a little longer. (At least in my experience with nitrox)
I have a good friend who tried out underwater welding for about a year. He’s about 6’3” 285 lbs and told me one of the contractors just simply told him, “we don’t have any wet suits that fit you, and you’re too big and take up too much space in our sub” lol
He eventually came back to the refineries with us in Houston.
When being tall becomes a hindrance 😅
first off, if your doing under water welding you would be using a dry suit. do some research.
@@CaptianCaleb
You can wet weld in a dry suit, in a wet suit, in a hot water suit, or in board shorts under coveralls. YOU do some research.
I'm 6'5 280#s and learned I was never a contortionist welder/operator...😂😅
Yawl smidgen folk got your entire world designed just for you...😂😅
@@tophernuttle420 yup. I'm "only" 6'2" and have all kinds of neck problems from having to look down on tables and things I'm working on for long hours with everything built for a max of 5'10".
Thankfully the underwater roofing business is more resilient
🙏🙏
i live near the port of Baltimore i guarante you get a job wet welding that day
Lol, im guessing you dont work then?
@@Titantitan001Lovely comment, added to the discussion perfectly. Your mom and uncle must be proud.
Did u see a lotta bodies in the Baltimore water👀
@@Titantitan001I’m guessing your still living in your moms House?
@@therealman2016 old dr pepper bottling facility with two units and my shop and bed downstairs. Union construction.
As a commercial diver I can back him on this. Actual welding underwater is less than 1% of what divers do. You'll do more cutting/ burning underwater than actual weld applications. Cutting/Burning underwater is similar to air arc or gouging.
🤝
I guess my cousin got pretty lucky. His two most recent job were fixing up one of the ships that was bombed on pearl harbor, and the other was taking appart an oil rig, both of which were completely underwater
Lucky him
California has a couple places that offer jobs for wet welding. It's not common place but it's out there
Thanks for sharing
When I was a kid I was told the most needed professional on the planet was underwater welder. There was such a huge demand and only a handful of people doing it. 25 years later I found out that underwater boom lasted about 3 years.
Yes I’ve been a welder for over 10 years and have never seen a job add for under water welding
Welding is still a great trade. I’m a journeyman tin basher myself.
It sure is!
If all you want to do is weld then work is sporadic, but if you get on with a dive company that does all kinds of underwater work…construction, recovery, inspections, etc you’ll have consistent work. Being able to wet weld is just a way to get your foot in the door.
good point
Commercial diving/ underwater welding is a single man's game. You travel a lot and your first job you'll be choking hose on deck as a tender or sweeping shop floors making a little more than min wage in the Gulf.
Great point!
Yea wet welding is really only something a small fraction of welders will do. So many people say that’s what they’re gonna do but probably 5-10% of us actually do
There is very much an increased demand for skilled deep water welders for the wind and solar farm projects
Just can’t be afraid of the sea folks
My welding instructor worked for the department of defense. He would set bolts for the anchor chain to attach to, to moor the ships.
Im not a welder or want to be but i wish more people would be this honest with more young people when being mentors or teachers 😊 stay safe wish you the best
Thank you!
He’s only being partially truthful, though let’s keep it a buck. He’s welding. School is in Wyoming and there isn’t a single ocean or really any large body of water in Wyoming so the demand for underwater welding is going to be low meaning that there’s not gonna be a lot of jobs in his location, but if you’re somewhere in Florida, where I live there’s going to be more jobs not a lot but more I’m gonna assume he unintentionally told a half truth
Depends slick. Out in the GoM there's very little welding. Near shore and ship husbandry does it alone. But your big ass ain't swimming no ship.
Yeah there are factors
There is a lot of demand for underwater welding.
Because it is dangerous and stressful.
New blood is always looked for.
Most of the underwater welding will be months at sea for emergency ship repairs but mostly for working on oil platforms in which you will work and live in pressurized compartments for weeks at a time because the trip down and back up takes days and is very dangerous in itself.
True it really just depends how down you are to risk it
See, this is why I learned underwater basket weaving. Much more in demand.
Spent years as an underwater welder and salvor and eventually owned my own business but the welding portion was very minimal. 95% of work wasn’t really welding related and was more inspections, ships husbandry and the occasional welding on certain projects.
Yeah, it’s a lot more pressure washing piles, and taking marine growth off of stuff!
Still fun and a good time blowing bubbles! 👍🏼💪🏼🙏🏼
If the pays the same, I’d even flip burgers.
Ofshore drilling rigs have welders in the water quite often. Just because you never got the call doesn't mean it does not exist. A short google will show this welding school is in Wyoming, which is landlocked so shocking that you dont see it their
For the people in the comments that don't understand. There is still commercial diving work out there but they very rarely do a lot of welding underwater. Also they more commonly teach divers to weld and not welders to dive. So you can still be a commercial diver but you'll never do enough welding to call yourself a "underwater welder"
That's what my son is.
Been welding and fabricating for nearly 20 years all over the country and I’ve never met an underwater welder yet. But I’ve met 1000’s of cousins and friends of underwater welders. They must be extremely popular guys because everyone knows them but they stay hidden from me 🤷♂️
The military is what i tell all kids after HS. I iust finished paying off school loans 11yrs later and i dnt use any of it. Always think of where the future is going and try to capitalize on it. I could always fall back on what i went to school for but i have many trades and i now do what i love. Life doesent make sense if your not happy!💪💯
Happy for you man
There’s divers. We do everything under water that’s done on the surface and more. Welding is one of the things divers do and damn few wet weld. For every 100 hundreds under you might do 1 of welding unless you work for a company that does a lot ships husbandry or specializes in welding. Diving is a far better career to get into than welding but there’s less openings. Best you can do is get your cdl,a, welding cert, and dive certs. Learn to build staircases and fit steel. You will never lack for work. When you are on a job always ask to run the equipment or drive the boat. Become an all around hand and
never be afraid to take charge or get
in any one’s face esp about safety. Also take the 40 hour safety course to be a working safety man. Being a welder is a guaranteed way to get on a job but there’s better ways to spend your life than burning rod all day.
bosses face.
Guys if you're thinking about this you need to be thinking ahead, that's why I'm studying space welding
He's absolutely right because they put a case on around whatever they do and pump the water out😢😢😢
🥲
Not always.
It was hard for me to realize that after i got my underwater aviation mechanic degree
Right! They just take all those pipes on the ocean and rivers up and weld them and put them back in place... lol
So am I wasting my time aiming to be a underwater welder? I only ask this because I’m planning on going to classes for this as a full career.
That’s why I went into underwater orchestra conductor
Shell is the only people who want underwater welding. But.
Just go for submerged arc instead.
I always call it "Rockstar welding" because the odds of a person getting into it are about the same as someone becoming a rock star.
One of my old bosses said he got certified as one and his first job was sweeping floors so he went with landscaping
😮
Yep I had to let that course slide, lucky I could fall back on my underwater carbon fibre hull glueing skills.
When i was getting out of the navy, there was a school that was heavily advertising at the time for underwater welding down in Charleston, SC. I think it specifically was a commercial diving school, as opposed to a weldong school, though.
Should have explained that they use hyperbaric chambers now to simulate a dry environment
I knew one guy that did it back in the 80's. He had to go to turkey to work on oil rigs
Space welding is where it’s at.
Hes right I knew a person from Canada that literally had to travel the world to find work for it he ended up teaching it in Thailand for dollars an hr
😮
Easier to teach a diver how to weld than it is to teach a welder how to dive. 👊
Didn't happen for YOU but plenty of us making six figs doing underwater welding for the Navy via subcontractors.
Won't stop me from looking.
Yea boats underline gas pipes they never need to be maintained or replaced anymore
right
Right up there with being an Astronaut.
fr
A guy I went to high school with does underwater welding exclusively, travels all over for it
Oh good for him!
That’s why I do underwater electrical ⚡️
Good for you!
Maybe not a lot of wet welding jobs in the middle of America. But I know. A lot of guys that did underwater welding around the world. They would work for 3 months then take the rest of the year off to travel around and go crazy. Only one guy died from actual under water welding.
Savannah GA has tons of water welding jobs
A actually a underwater welder, its contractor based not employee based . Hes right . In the 5 jobs ive done ive been able to retire and start investing im oroperties after 30 years shipyard welding
Seems like on-site fabrication is alot more in-demand
Sorry but there is a call for it. There's a lot of ships that need inspections and welding.
There used to be thousands of welding jobs and professional welders around where I live, but they’ve all been replaced by robots and other things so they aren’t needed. The rest of them moved to somewhere that hasn’t been taken over yet. If your thinking about going into welding I advise you to really do your research on how much you will actually make in your area. I live in Ohio where there’s a place called Hobart, it’s a massive facility with hundreds of welders. But guess what, they start at 15-20 and hour. Which is exactly what you’ll make if you go down the street and box pizzas. It’s just not worth it anymore and they are all being replaced, and these big companies on know how much cheaper and more efficient it is.
yikes
Yah but I’m sure it’s a lot different if you live along the coast somewhere
Above water welding is much dryer and I've never seen a shark up here 😊
My friend has done it all of his life. Only six months out of the year though, then he has 6 months off
Saving all the work
There's still plenty of wet welding. Just live on the coast.
If you live on the coast, you will find plenty of underwater welding work.
You will find plenty of commercial diving work on the coast. Commercial diving work more often than not does not equal wet welding.
Wwa is underrated!
😎
Even though I figured that it was a old fantasy like Indiana Jones!
Depends where you are.
True
They do a lot of torch cutting in salvage but next to zero welding.
Ship wet welding used to be the thing.. most now dry dock.....
When I started it’s all anyone ever said “o those underwater welders make bank “. Yeah yeah . Got my LA city cert them semi auto and the rest is gold son.
lots of work in the north sea in Europe
thanks for telling the truth
Cutting scrap can be profitable.
Someone keeps deleting my comment with the name of the school but it’s out of Galveston. You will spend most of you career as a tender and you’re only able to perform a set amount of deep dives (saturation dives) in your career but that does t mean the opportunity isn’t there.
Lots of work for it up here in Nova Scotia by!!
My uncle was a highly successful underwater welder here in Michigan. Dude's full of if.
I do wet welding everytime my boss pisses down my back telling me how good i have it
not on the west coast but go to the gulf coast and you'll find a lot of jobs.
But driving one of those “ROV”’s comes from the same school, pay the same…..and a lot more actual hours doing the job than sitting around
Add to that, you'll love saturation diving.
🧐
Bro out here gatekeeping saturation welding positions for his next life😂
Facts
I don't care what he says I'm still applying for under water 💧 welding
😂😂😂😂
@@jgloryrich4967 you feel me 😂
Maybe in the Navi.
I became a welding teacher because I couldn’t make it on my own.
Well looks like you work mostly Midwest so I'm sure there isn't a lot of commercial diving and welding going on
Anyone who wants to be a underwater welder is thinking of the money, not the welding
you are just too buoyant bub
I spent over $18,000 getting my dive helmet and my dive gear went to Seattle dive School did this schooling and did the physical and they told me I couldn't do it because I had some physical issues I was close but no cigar
You bought a hat before you even went to school? lmao.
I thought it was underwater wedding 😂
I love when the comment section is filled with a bunch of people with their snide "about actually I do underwater welding all the time." Contradiction
😅😅
welders version of media studies degree gl with the competition
Space welding is more common
not wrong
The industrial train has stopped eh?
Move to the coast they always hiring in WA for that.
8 thousand dollars for basic structure stick welding
Location is relevant. Here in Florida they're hiring.
Not wrong
Actually you can go work in the oil fields but yeah
Why not just get plexiglass to put between the camera and the ball?
My cousin did underwater welding in Las Vegas for displays in the fountains…. Payed 141k for a year
Bullshit.
Live near me, there is a ton.
All facts and it's dangerous AF
i know right!