Some of the U.S. military’s most capable waterborne warriors aren’t Navy SEALs but Navy dolphins. That’s right, the animals.
Part of a once-classified program that’s existed since 1963, marine mammals saw action in the opening stages of the Iraq war, and they’re now being used to guard a growing number of U.S. submarine bases, Navy officials told The Daily.
“So far, their capabilities are unmatched by anything manmade,” said Ed Budzyna, a spokesman for the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego. At the research center, the Navy trains a 100-member corps of marine mammals that includes bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions.
Most recently, the Navy has put marine mammals on patrol around Trident submarine bases in Kings Bay, Ga., and Bangor, Wash., The Daily has learned. Twenty sea lions were approved for duty in Bangor last year because they’re “particularly effective at swimmer interdiction,” Budzyna said.
“Swimmer interdiction” is military-speak for catching bad guys in the water. Handlers release specially trained dolphins or sea lions to patrol piers and harbors where darkness or turbid water makes it hard for human guards to see intruders. If the animals encounter an enemy diver or submersible, they mark the find with an illuminated, floating beacon and then dart away.
“The sea lions are so efficient and so fast that they can swim up to a diver and swim away before the diver even knows what happens,” Budzyna said.
Usually, human security guards then move in to grab the interloper. In some cases, however, sea lions can do the capturing, too. The animals carry a metal cuff in their mouths, attached to a long cable. Once the sea lion clamps the cuff around an enemy swimmer’s ankle, “the Navy security people can literally haul this person out of the water,” Budzyna said.
Navy sea lions are also skilled at playing deep-water fetch with dropped equipment. The Navy frequently drops or test-fires nonexplosive practice ordnance into the ocean, and it needs to get that expensive gear back. Sea lions are trained to listen for an acoustic beacon inside the test ordnance and, once they hear it, dive while clutching a metal plate in their teeth.
The plate is designed so that the sea lion can affix it to the submerged object. Humans can then use a high-strength line attached to the plate — played out as the animal dives — to haul the ordnance back to the surface. In these recovery operations, the Navy says one sea lion and two handlers in a rubber boat can cover more ocean floor, faster and more cheaply, than a full-sized naval vessel.
The Navy’s mammals are also good at spotting real explosives. Navy handlers have trained bottlenose dolphins to use their biological sonar to search for mines in harbors, sea lanes or along possible invasion routes for landing craft. If mines are present, the dolphins give a signal to their handlers, who then alert human mine-sweeping teams.
While the mammals have done everything from guarding piers in Cam Ranh Bay during the Vietnam War to sweeping mines from Iraq’s Umm Qasr port during the Iraq War, the Navy says that so far none of the animals have been injured in the line of duty. One reason may be the Navy’s insistence on only using marine mammals on defensive missions. Another reason may be the cost of training them.
“These truly are million-dollar animals,” said Terrie Williams, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who was a civilian trainer in the Navy program until 1994.
Since 1988, the Navy has raised all its own dolphins, making it one of the largest dolphin breeders in the country alongside Sea World, which supplies many of the Navy’s sea lions. As they grow up, the young mammals are habituated to working with people and taught to perform assigned tasks. While the training works in the vast majority of cases, not every animal turns out to be Navy material.
At University of California, Santa Cruz, Williams currently works with two dolphins who didn’t make the cut — Puka, who disliked deep water, and Primo, who had trouble following orders. Still, Williams said both animals have proven invaluable for the research she now does.
“What do you do with a mine-hunting dolphin when it’s no longer mine-hunting?” Williams asked, laughing. “Basically, you send them to college.”
MINE HUNTING
Handlers release dolphins into waters that may contain undersea mines. Using biological sonar, the dolphins locate the mines and mark them with beacons so that humans can disable them or ships can steer clear. The dolphins are also used to identify mine-free corridors for landing craft coming to shore.
AQUATIC GUARDS
Dolphins and sea lions are trained to patrol harbors and piers for enemy divers. The animals are trained to mark unwelcome swimmers with beacons that allow human guards to quickly find and capture them. Sea lions are also trained to place locking ankle cuffs on waterborne intruders, who can then be hauled from the water via an attached cable.
UNDERWATER RETRIEVAL
Sea lions are trained to search for submerged naval hardware and attach a recovery line, allowing seamen to pull the objects to the surface.
Erik.German@thedaily.com
Part of a once-classified program that’s existed since 1963, marine mammals saw action in the opening stages of the Iraq war, and they’re now being used to guard a growing number of U.S. submarine bases, Navy officials told The Daily.
“So far, their capabilities are unmatched by anything manmade,” said Ed Budzyna, a spokesman for the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego. At the research center, the Navy trains a 100-member corps of marine mammals that includes bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions.
Most recently, the Navy has put marine mammals on patrol around Trident submarine bases in Kings Bay, Ga., and Bangor, Wash., The Daily has learned. Twenty sea lions were approved for duty in Bangor last year because they’re “particularly effective at swimmer interdiction,” Budzyna said.
“Swimmer interdiction” is military-speak for catching bad guys in the water. Handlers release specially trained dolphins or sea lions to patrol piers and harbors where darkness or turbid water makes it hard for human guards to see intruders. If the animals encounter an enemy diver or submersible, they mark the find with an illuminated, floating beacon and then dart away.
“The sea lions are so efficient and so fast that they can swim up to a diver and swim away before the diver even knows what happens,” Budzyna said.
Usually, human security guards then move in to grab the interloper. In some cases, however, sea lions can do the capturing, too. The animals carry a metal cuff in their mouths, attached to a long cable. Once the sea lion clamps the cuff around an enemy swimmer’s ankle, “the Navy security people can literally haul this person out of the water,” Budzyna said.
Navy sea lions are also skilled at playing deep-water fetch with dropped equipment. The Navy frequently drops or test-fires nonexplosive practice ordnance into the ocean, and it needs to get that expensive gear back. Sea lions are trained to listen for an acoustic beacon inside the test ordnance and, once they hear it, dive while clutching a metal plate in their teeth.
The plate is designed so that the sea lion can affix it to the submerged object. Humans can then use a high-strength line attached to the plate — played out as the animal dives — to haul the ordnance back to the surface. In these recovery operations, the Navy says one sea lion and two handlers in a rubber boat can cover more ocean floor, faster and more cheaply, than a full-sized naval vessel.
The Navy’s mammals are also good at spotting real explosives. Navy handlers have trained bottlenose dolphins to use their biological sonar to search for mines in harbors, sea lanes or along possible invasion routes for landing craft. If mines are present, the dolphins give a signal to their handlers, who then alert human mine-sweeping teams.
While the mammals have done everything from guarding piers in Cam Ranh Bay during the Vietnam War to sweeping mines from Iraq’s Umm Qasr port during the Iraq War, the Navy says that so far none of the animals have been injured in the line of duty. One reason may be the Navy’s insistence on only using marine mammals on defensive missions. Another reason may be the cost of training them.
“These truly are million-dollar animals,” said Terrie Williams, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who was a civilian trainer in the Navy program until 1994.
Since 1988, the Navy has raised all its own dolphins, making it one of the largest dolphin breeders in the country alongside Sea World, which supplies many of the Navy’s sea lions. As they grow up, the young mammals are habituated to working with people and taught to perform assigned tasks. While the training works in the vast majority of cases, not every animal turns out to be Navy material.
At University of California, Santa Cruz, Williams currently works with two dolphins who didn’t make the cut — Puka, who disliked deep water, and Primo, who had trouble following orders. Still, Williams said both animals have proven invaluable for the research she now does.
“What do you do with a mine-hunting dolphin when it’s no longer mine-hunting?” Williams asked, laughing. “Basically, you send them to college.”
MINE HUNTING
Handlers release dolphins into waters that may contain undersea mines. Using biological sonar, the dolphins locate the mines and mark them with beacons so that humans can disable them or ships can steer clear. The dolphins are also used to identify mine-free corridors for landing craft coming to shore.
AQUATIC GUARDS
Dolphins and sea lions are trained to patrol harbors and piers for enemy divers. The animals are trained to mark unwelcome swimmers with beacons that allow human guards to quickly find and capture them. Sea lions are also trained to place locking ankle cuffs on waterborne intruders, who can then be hauled from the water via an attached cable.
UNDERWATER RETRIEVAL
Sea lions are trained to search for submerged naval hardware and attach a recovery line, allowing seamen to pull the objects to the surface.
Erik.German@thedaily.com
