Russia doubles number of dolphins to protect Black Sea fleet?

The above information was published by Naval News, the official newspaper of the British Royal Navy, and quoted by Business Insider on June 17.

The Russian Navy has previously used dolphins trained for military purposes to protect its naval base in the port of Sevastopol. Moscow has used dolphins as a tool to deter potential Ukrainian sabotage of Russian ships.

Satellite images captured by the US space technology company Maxar Technologies show two dolphin pens trained by Russian forces.

A pod of dolphins swims in the Black Sea. Photo: Shutterstock

Submarine and underwater systems expert HI Sutton writes in Naval News that the number of dolphins in the port of Sevastopol has doubled recently.

Russia's move to double the number of trained dolphins comes after a number of drone attacks on Russian ships in the region.

Sevastopol is the major port and headquarters of Russia's Black Sea fleet in Crimea. Russia unilaterally annexed Crimea in 2014.

Dolphins are trained by Russian forces to fight against Ukrainian special forces divers or marines. Underwater, dolphins can swim at speeds of 60 km/h.

The Russian military has been running a marine mammal training program in the port of Sevastopol since the Cold War, according to the U.S. Naval Institute. The marine mammals in these programs, including dolphins and beluga whales, are trained to detect divers or marines and detect underwater mines, Sutton said.

Last year, RIA Novosti news agency quoted a source as saying that Russian experts had converted underwater sonar detections of dolphins into signals for analysis.

Besides Russia, many other countries are also believed to train marine animals for military purposes, including the US, Sweden, Israel and North Korea.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/thoi-su-quoc-te/nga-tang-gap-doi-so-luong-ca-heo-de-bao-ve-ham-doi-bien-den-20230617193307433.htm