Trained dolphins to protect Russian ships in Black Sea

RUSSIA has posted navy-trained dolphins to Sevastopol’s port to protect its Black Sea fleet from undersea sabotage.

Two pens were placed at the harbour’s entrance in Crimea around when the war began in February, according to analysis of Maxar Technology satellite images by the US Naval Institute.

The animals may have been posted to carry out counter-dive operations, stopping Ukraine infiltrating the harbour and accessing Russian warships. Ships in the port are vulnerable to undersea sabotage and air attacks. The flagship warship Moskva already sank earlier this month after being hit by Ukraine.

The mammals were used in waters near Sevastopol in the Cold War, when dolphins were trained in the Black Sea. Ukraine controlled the unit after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, almost entirely ceasing activities. It has been revived since Crimea was annexed in 2014 and became operational again.

Experts say dolphins have the most accurate sonar known to science, so they can easily find threats underwater.

“Our specialists developed new devices that convert dolphins’ underwater sonar detection of targets into a signal to the operator’s monitor,” a source told Russian news agency RIA Novosti. “The Ukrainian navy lacked funds for such know-how, and some projects had to be mothballed.”