Russia has deployed trained military dolphins near the entrance to a major Black Sea port, ostensibly to protect a crucial naval facility from attack.
Two dolphin pens were transported to the location in February, around the time Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, according to the United States Naval Institute (USNI), which studied satellite pictures from the commercial business Maxar.
The dolphin pens are at the entrance to the Sevastopol harbour in Crimea, which was annexed by Russian forces from Ukraine in 2014.
“The dolphins could be tasked with counter-diver operations,” according to the USNI, to “prevent Ukrainian special operations forces from penetrating the harbour underwater to sabotage vessels,” which are just out of range of Ukrainian missiles.
This isn’t the first time a fleet of marine animals has been formed. During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union trained dolphins to detect enemy divers and mines.
The US has spent at least $28 million on its own military dolphin and sea lion forces, which might be employed in future battles.
Russia’s special operational underwater animal programme is reportedly said to include a trained beluga whale. According to the USNI, beluga whales (along with other Russian military seals) are utilised because they have “thick layers of fat to keep warm, (and) are better insulated against the cold than bottlenose dolphins used in the Black Sea.”
It is unknown whether Ukraine has planned any combat-swimmer operations against Sevastopol, according to the USNI. Despite this, the USNI states that dolphins are “widely considered” by naval experts to be an effective defence against divers.
