Russia deploys military-trained dolphins at the Black Sea to protect its naval base

Europe, News, US May 2, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

The Russian military has deployed specially trained dolphins at the critical chokepoints of its naval base off the coast of Crimea, a report published by the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) claimed.

The report was based on satellite images collected from Maxar Technologies. The images show at least two dolphins patrolling at the entry point of Sevastopol harbor. Sevastopol is one of the most critical and important naval bases for the Russian military because of its close proximity to Crimea, a region of Ukraine that Russia annexed in 2014.

According to the USNI report, the dolphins are trained to spot an underwater sabotage mission, detect enemy divers and locate sea mines. Dolphins are one of the most intelligent beings underwater. Their agility, speed, and adaptable hunting ability make for an ideal contender to detect and kill human intruders underwater. Dolphins also use echolocation, also known as the sonar system, which allows them to locate even the slightest disruption in the water to act swiftly.

This is not the first time that dolphins have been used to carry out military obligations. During the Cold War, both the Soviet Union and the U.S. ran several programs to train dolphins in order to detect enemy mines and divers underwater.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the dolphin training program was transferred to Ukraine, as the training program was being run at the Sevastopol port, before shifting back to Russia later. A lease program between Russia and Ukraine allowed Russia to share control of the strategically important naval base in the Black Sea. However, after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean region, Russia says the lease agreement does not apply and the port solely belongs to Russia.

*^{A satellite image of the Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva in the port of Sevastopol, Crimea, on April 7, 2022. (Image Credit: Maxar Technologies)}*

It is expected that the Russian military has deployed the trained dolphins in the Black Sea since the invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022. Deployment of dolphins is far more effective and cheaper than deploying trained military divers.

Dolphins can swim way faster than the fastest human swimmer. The sea mammals can also dive deeper without having to deal with decompression and sickness.

In 1959, the U.S. military also ran a Navy’s Marine-Mammal Training program in San Diego. Under the program, U.S. Navy trained not only dolphins but also Californian Sea Lions to detect, mark and recover objects from around the harbor and the depths of the open sea.

All kinds of animals are used all around the world to carry out security duties and espionage operations. During the Cold War, the CIA spent millions of dollars on a project that would equip cats with listening and recording devices in order to pick intelligence information from the Russians.

^{Trainer Jen Patten calms a U.S. Navy Dolphin before it is transported to a boat prior to a training exercise at Naval Base Point Loma in 2007 in San Diego, California. The U.S. Navy’s Marine Mammal Program was declassified in the 1990s. (Image Credit: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)}

Iranian intelligence operatives once captured 14 squirrels at the country’s borders that had been wearing foreign spy gear. While recently in April of 2021, India’s Border Security Forces ‘arrested’ a Pakistani pigeon that was allegedly carrying suspicious information across the border.

According to many animal rights organizations, using animals to carry out patrol duties and military missions, especially in an active war zone, raises a lot of ethical questions and should not be encouraged.