Moscow’s Defense Ministry has doubled the number of trained dolphins in the vicinity of Sevastopol, from three to four, whose main task is to protect the largest naval base in Crimea, Naval News reports, citing Russian press reports.
According to Naval News, this means that the “military dolphins” are patrolling the waters of Sevastopol more than before, and also cover a larger area.
The main task of the intelligent marine mammal is to protect against the light divers of the Ukrainian Navy, the so-called combat swimmers, who can swim under the surface of the water to the naval base to lay mines there.
Dolphins have an inherent advantage over the most athletic divers: no one can swim out of a dolphin – Draws attention to the specialized portal.
Russia appears to have doubled the number of trained dolphins defending its Sevastopol naval base in Crimea. This is part of a gradual tightening of defenses in response to Ukraine’s increased access to the strategic city. @employee https://t.co/xXIaofs0nW
– Naval News (@navalnewscom) June 14, 2023
The training of dolphins and other marine mammals for military purposes is nothing new.
The most famous and largest program in operation in the US Navy.
The first conservation dolphin training station was established in Sweden, but Israel, Mexico and North and South Korea are believed to have similar programmes.
Illustrative: Russian Navy minesweeper Turbinist in the port of Sevastopol, Crimea, on March 5, 2014. (Photo: MTI/EPA/Zurab Kurcikidze)
