Last February, at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, two military dolphin pens were moved to the port base of Sevastopol, located in Crimea, territory annexed by Russia, according to the US Naval Institute, an American military association. But what role do these dolphins play in the war in Ukraine? Since when does Russia use military dolphins? Explanations.
What if Russia used military dolphins to invade Ukraine? By analyzing satellite imagery showing the Black Sea, the US Naval Institute discovered that two pens of Russian military dolphins were relocated behind a breakwater at the entrance to the port of Sevastopol, base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014 . According to the conclusions of the association, published on Wednesday April 27, 2022 and transmitted by the British daily The Guardian, in February the dolphin pens in the Black Sea surfaced of the war in Ukraine. But what role can dolphins play in the invasion of Ukraine? What are the missions of military dolphins? Since when has Russia been training these sea creatures for military purposes? Do other countries make dolphins weapons of war? We take stock.
Dolphins protect a strategic area
The role of the Russian military dolphins would be to protect the Sevastopol naval base and the Russian fleet from a possible Ukrainian submarine attack. In any case, it is the most plausible hypothesis, according to the US Naval Institute. And for the simple and good reason that “Sevastopol is the main naval base of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea”explains the military association.
Specifically, the dolphins are tasked with dissuading potential enemy divers from sabotaging Russian ships. Many would be anchored there. According to the US Naval Institute, the ships are out of range of missiles but are potentially vulnerable to submarine attacks.
It is unclear whether Ukraine has planned combat swimmer operations against Sevastopol. But what is certain is this “Dolphins are widely recognized by naval analysts as an effective defense against divers.”comments the US Naval Institute.
Dolphins were trained for military purposes as early as the Cold War
The use of dolphins for military purposes is not new. It dates back to the Cold War when the USSR developed the use of the dolphin to detect underwater objects such as mines. And it’s not the first time dolphins have been trained in the Black Sea either. This has even happened before near Sevastopol. In fact, the Soviet Navy had developed several marine mammal training programs during the Cold War. When the USSR broke up in 1991, the unit passed into the hands of the Ukrainian army before returning to Russian Navy control with the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Since the first attempts during the Cold War, Russia has even expanded dolphin training to other marine animals, including beluga whales. One of them actually found refuge in a Norwegian port three years ago. When first sighted off the northern coast of the Scandinavian kingdom in April 2019, the marine mammal was strapped into a harness specially designed to collect a mini-camera, with the words “Equipment of Saint-Petersburg” written on it: conclusion that it was an animal of the Russian army acted was therefore drawn.
The United States has also turned sea creatures into weapons of war
And the Russian army isn’t the only one using military dolphins. So does the United States, and that also goes back to the Cold War. The US Army established a marine mammal unit, the Navy’s Marine Mammal Program, in the 1960s.
A US Navy Marine Mammal Program training session in 2012. (Photo: MC2 Joshua Scott / Wikimedia Commons)
Initially, the US Navy was interested in the Dolphin’s hydrodynamic capabilities with the aim of developing torpedoes. Dolphins, killer whales and sea lions were then trained there to detect underwater mines, recover dangerous objects or locate divers and pilots missing at sea. These minesweeper dolphins were used in the Persian Gulf during the Vietnam War and most recently during the Iraq War in 2003.
Also read: Crows, Cats, Dolphins: The Secret History of the CIA Spy Animals
Much criticized by animal rights activists, the US Navy decided last year to replace marine animals with drone robots. However, she promised to continue watching over her faithful servants even after retirement.