Satellite Images Show Militarized Dolphin Pens in Russian Naval Base; What Can These Trained Marine Mammals Do to Be Involved in War?

Satellite images from Maxar Technologies show militarized dolphin pens containing dolphins at the harbor of Sevastopol, Crimea, a significant part of the Black Sea. Marine mammals, like dolphins, are trained to detect enemy swimmers and sea mines.

US Naval Institute (USNI) news and analysis website reported that Russia had deployed these militarized dolphins to protect their naval base in the Black Sea to foil Ukrainian undersea operations aimed at sabotaging Russian warships.

Militarized Dolphin Pens Moved to Naval Sea Amid the Russian Invasion in Ukraine

The USNI report says that the pens were moved to the Black Sea naval base in February following the unprovoked invasion of Russia to Ukraine. The former has operated and trained marine mammals in Sevastopol since the Cold War, but the animals were transferred to Ukraine forces after the Soviet was dissolved in 1991.

Then in 2014, Russia gained control back of the dolphins after the annexation of Crimea, which expanded their military operations. USNI reviewed satellite images from Maxar Technologies and found two dolphin pens were moved to the base in the month of the invasion this year.

Ukraine had also trained some dolphins at aquariums near Sevastopol from a program that was a Soviet-era scheme that fell into neglect after the end of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. The Sevastopol program was only resurrected in 2012 by the Ukrainian navy, although Russia gained power over the marine mammals in 2014.

Ukraine unsuccessfully demanded the dolphins back. Forbes also reported that satellite images in 2018 showed that Russia used militarized dolphins at its naval base in Tartus, Syria, during the Syrian War.

Marine Mammals Used in Military Operations

The naval base of Russia in the Black Sea and other areas are part of their military's wider reinvestment in marine mammal programs in the past decade. Likewise, the US has already spent at least $28 million for maintaining their own troops of dolphins and sea lions to potentially help them in naval conflicts.

As to how they use dolphins and other marine mammals in their military operation, The Guardian reported that a source told Russian news agency RIA Novosti that specialists developed novel devices that convert the underwater sonar detection of dolphins into a signal to the operator's monitor. Unfortunately, Ukraine lacks funds to invest in these devices and other projects have to be canceled.

Aside from dolphins and sea lions, other marine mammals in the military include the beluga whale. Fishermen spotted one beluga whale off the coast of Norway in 2019, believed to be trained by the Russian navy. Sources said that the whales harassing their boats were wearing strange harnesses that may have held cameras.

In the whole world, only four nations run a marine mammal military program — the US, Russia, Israel, and North Korea.

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