Russia trains dolphins to protect its fleet from Ukrainian attacks

Vladimir Putin reaches out to touch a dolphin Photo: AFP

Russia has doubled the number of specially trained dolphins sent to protect the Black Sea Fleet from Ukrainian attacks.

Dolphin pens have been seen at the entrance to Sevastopol harbor since the early days of the war, with the animals there to prevent Ukrainian divers from infiltrating the naval base and sabotaging the Kremlin warships. .

But Moscow has now doubled the number of dolphins at harbor entrances, according to Naval News.

About seven dolphins are currently patrolling the waters around the harbor, the website says, up from about three. up to four animals at the beginning of the war.

Dolphins are part of a layered defense system, including torpedo nets, a floating barrier and anti-aircraft missiles.

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The Russian Black Sea Dolphin Unit was created during the Cold War and came under Ukrainian control after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. However, after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, it became part of the Russian Navy again.

“Our specialists have developed new devices that convert the detection of targets by dolphins underwater sonar into a signal on the operator’s monitor,” a source told Russian news agency last year. agency RIA Novosti. “The Ukrainian Navy did not have enough funds for such know-how, and some projects had to be mothballed.”

Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, dolphins have been part of the region's naval defense. Credit: SERGEY ILNITSKY/EPA

Marine experts say dolphins have the most accurate sonar known to science, allowing them to find mines and other threats underwater with relative ease. They can also swim across any diver.

The Russian Navy has had a marine mammal program for a long time, but the increase in the number of dolphins came after a series of Ukrainian drone attacks on the Black Sea Fleet.

In October, Ukrainian unmanned boats attacked the Sevastopol naval base, Western analysts believe that they managed to hit at least three ships.

Videos posted on social networks after the attack showed damage to the Admiral Makarov ship, which became flagship of the Black Sea Fleet after the sinking of the Moscow.

An increased number of dolphins was seen near the entrance to the Sevastopol harbor Photo: SERGEY ILNITSKY/Agency Environmental Protection Agency

Several countries around the world are believed to have programs to study marine mammals, including in the United States, where dolphins are trained to detect mines, swim, and retrieve objects.

Russia is reported sent her Black Sea dolphins to his Syrian naval base in the port of Tartus in 2018.

And in 2019, a beluga whale was found in Norway wearing a harness that many believed belonged to the Russian fleet.