![]() This makes dolphins especially useful for identifying underwater mines. That gives them an idea of their surroundings, and even lets them figure out what kind of metal they might be swimming near, according to a program spokesperson speaking with National Geographic News. "The reason they're used is that they have abilities that are unmatched still by anything man-made," Budzyna said.ĭolphins emit vocalizations and then closely listen for how the sounds bounce back. The sea mammals make attractive military assets because of their intelligence and trainability - as well as their speed in the water, and an echolocation ability that far outperforms the best electronic competitors. The animals even helped provide security for the Republican National Convention of 1996, which took place at the waterside San Diego Convention Center less than a month after a bombing at the summer Olympics in Atlanta.Ī bottlenose dolphin named K-Dog leaps out of the water in front of Sergeant Andrew Garrett while training near the USS Gunston Hall in the Persian Gulf on March 18, 2003. ![]() ![]() The dolphins were deployed "to protect the Third Fleet flagship anchored in Manama Harbor" in Bahrain, according to a SPAWAR document shared with Business Insider. In 19, five of the cetaceans guarded an Army ammunition pier in Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay, providing surveillance to thwart enemy swimmers.ĭolphins were also deployed from Bahrain during the Tanker War, a late phase of the Iran-Iraq war in which the warring neighbors targeted one another's oil vessels (the US got involved in 1987, to protect Kuwaiti oil exports). ![]() "It was soon after discovered that they had excellent biological sonar, so they definitely did a lot of research on that as well," Ed Budzyna, a spokesman for SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific, told Business Insider.ĭolphins have seen occasional use during war. Military researchers soon realized that the dolphins themselves could become a battlefield asset. ![]()
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