{"id":1957585,"date":"2023-06-26T18:38:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T22:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/russian-navy-likely-training-combat-dolphins-uk-defense-ministry-says\/"},"modified":"2023-06-26T18:43:43","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T22:43:43","slug":"russian-navy-likely-training-combat-dolphins-uk-defense-ministry-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/russian-navy-likely-training-combat-dolphins-uk-defense-ministry-says\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Defense Ministry believes that the Russian Navy is probably training combat dolphins."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frussian-navy-likely-training-combat-dolphins-uk-defense-ministry-says%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1957585&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The Russian Navy&#8217;s Combat Dolphins in the Black Sea<\/h2>\n<p>The Russian Navy is &#8220;likely&#8221; training combat dolphins to intercept enemy divers in the Black Sea, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/ministry-of-defence\">U.K. Ministry of Defence<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Russia has trained animals for a range of missions, but the ones housed in Sevastopol harbor are highly likely intended to counter enemy divers,&#8221; the statement said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The intelligence gathered by the U.K. showed nets, booms, and marine mammal pens used to defend the base and train dolphins for military purposes. The ministry&#8217;s post stated, &#8220;This includes at least four layers of nets and booms across the harbor entrance. In recent weeks, these defenses have highly likely also been augmented by an increased number of trained <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rep-jim-banks-lists-11-ways-democrats-anti-china-bill-is-a-surrender-to-the-xi-regime\/\" title=\"Rep. Jim Banks Lists 11 Ways Democrats' 'Anti-China' Bill Is a Surrender to the Xi Regime\">marine mammals<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) <a href=\"https:\/\/news.usni.org\/2022\/04\/27\/trained-russian-navy-dolphins-are-protecting-black-sea-naval-base-satellite-photos-show\">confirmed<\/a> the intelligence, concluding that Russia moved the two dolphin pens to Sevastopol in February. According to the USNI, the dolphins could &#8220;be tasked with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/russian-navy-likely-training-combat-dolphins-uk-defense-ministry-says\/\" title=\"UK Defense Ministry believes that the Russian Navy is probably training combat dolphins.\">counter-diver operations<\/a>&#8221; and &#8220;prevent Ukrainian special operations forces from infiltrating the harbor underwater to sabotage warships.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>The Importance of Sevastopol Base<\/h3>\n<p>The Sevastopol base is the Russian Navy&#8217;s most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-west-could-have-prevented-the-russo-ukrainian-war-but-chose-not-to\/\" title=\"The West Could Have Prevented The Russo-Ukrainian War, But Chose Not To\">important naval base<\/a> in Crimea and stores many high-value Russian ships. The base is seen as especially vulnerable to Ukrainian sabotage since it is out of range of Ukrainian missiles.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Imagery shows a near doubling of floating mammal pens in the harbor which highly likely contain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/anti-diver-combat-dolphins-deploying-in-black-sea-whales-and-seals-also-being-trained-report\/\" title=\"Report: Combat dolphins deployed in Black Sea for anti-diver operations; whales and seals undergoing training as well.\">bottle-nosed dolphins<\/a>,&#8221; the statement continued. The suspected dolphin training comes alongside heightened security in Sevastopol following Ukrainian drone strikes in April, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennessean.com\/story\/news\/world\/2023\/06\/26\/russia-dolphins-ukraine-war-uk\/70356695007\/\">The Tennessean<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>The Capabilities of Bottle-nosed Dolphins<\/h3>\n<p>Bottle-nosed dolphins can detect underwater mines and enemy swimmers using echolocation \u2014 sounds the dolphin emits and then bounce back to the dolphin. According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niwcpacific.navy.mil\/marine-mammal-program\/\">Naval Information Warfare Center<\/a>, dolphins have the most sophisticated sonar known to science.<\/p>\n<p>Russia has previously used Beluga whales and seals in the Arctic Ocean for naval surveillance missions. A Beluga whale made <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-56956365\">headlines<\/a> in 2021 when it appeared on the coast of Norway and seemed to be used for Russian intelligence. Locals nicknamed the whale &#8220;Hvaldimir&#8221; and freed the whale from its camera-bearing harness.<\/p>\n<h3>The History of Military Dolphins<\/h3>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t the first time dolphins have been used in a military context. The U.S. studied and trained dolphins and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-cuts-millions-of-acres-from-being-eligible-for-oil-drilling-in-alaska\/\" title=\"Biden Cuts Millions of Acres From Being Eligible for Oil Drilling in Alaska\">beluga whales<\/a> to improve their own sonar technology and enhance their vessels&#8217; speed, according to &#8220;A Whale of Business,&#8221; an episode of PBS&#8217; &#8220;Frontline.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Marine Mammal Program (MMP), starting in 1960, &#8220;also trained dolphins, beluga whales, sea lions, and other marine mammals to perform various underwater tasks, including delivering equipment to divers underwater, locating and retrieving lost objects, guarding boats and submarines, and doing underwater surveillance using a camera held in their mouths.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>According to PBS, the MMP had over 100 dolphins and operated with an $8 million budget in the 1980s, playing a key surveillance role in the Cold War.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Navy used bottlenose dolphins in the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars to patrol waters, alert guards, and tag enemy swimmers with a tracking device so American troops could capture or neutralize the swimmer. Though the Navy denies it, the episode claims that dolphins were also trained to shoot enemy swimmers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>combat purposes in the past, including dolphins, seals, and beluga whales,\u201d the report stated. The use of dolphins for military purposes is not new, as the Soviet Union also had a program for training dolphins in the 1970s. The Russian Navy&#8217;s alleged training of combat dolphins raises concerns about the potential use of marine mammals in future conflicts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2107,"featured_media":1957586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1957585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1957585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1957586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1957585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1957585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1957585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}