During the Soviet-US arms race throughout the Cold War, both nations were desperate to find new ways to get ahead of the other country. Submarines were put into use, new missiles were developed, militaries were trained, but the most creative weapon both nations began using were animals.
It’s important to note that there’s not much publicity surrounding the use of marine mammals in the navy, so a large amount of the information known about it consists of speculation and rumor.
Norwegian fishermen originally spotted the Soviets training dolphins for military use during the Cold War. They trained them to detect suspicious objects, submarines, and underwater mines. According to retired Colonel Baranets of Norway, these dolphins were even trained to place explosives on enemy ships. The Soviet Union allegedly spent over 18,000 euros on purchasing dolphins to train.
Around 1991, this training program was discontinued in Russia, but the US had already begun the same thing. Controversy surrounds this, as some claim that the US inspired Russia to begin military training dolphins. Nevertheless, since the 1960s, the US has been training marine mammals to perform a variety of tasks, such as carrying out recovery operations and detecting underwater mines. They originally wanted to design better missiles, seeking out dolphins for inspiration, as they were light and aerodynamic. The US quickly realized that dolphins were “trainable, and adaptable, and amenable to training,” according to a Navy spokesperson.
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| U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Training Program in San Diego |
Some speculators currently believe that Russia has restarted their marine mammal training program after a beluga whale was spotted wearing a harness with a camera in Norway. Some even believe that Russia’s training their dolphins to kill.
Despite the speculation, it’s evident that the pressure of the Cold War arms race inspired both the USSR and the US to turn to unique and unconventional ideas for weapons.
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| Beluga found in Norway |
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/magazine/beluga-whale-russia-military-dolphins.html
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2019/5/140328-navy-dolphin-sea-lion-combat-ocean-animal-science/
https://www.forces.net/news/dolphins-defence-how-military-uses-marine-mammals
https://slate.com/technology/2016/03/a-short-history-of-war-dolphins.html
I have never heard of US dolphins being used in war and it is really interesting to see the impact that they did have in wars. The huge controversy that they sparked was also very interesting. Was the government mistreating dolphins while training them in the navy? Upon doing some research, I found that dolphins that should have been euthanized due to how sick they were, were being kept alive on iv tubes and blood transfusions to teach navy members how to take care of sick dolphins.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/the-great-dolphin-dilemma/
I found it interesting how you chose to talk about military dolphins, but you should know that they aren't the only animal the military has been using. Around 10,000 creatures a year are used in operations by the US military, encompassing a multitude of species such a monkeys, pigs, and goats. Many are subjected to deadly military trauma. Consider reading about the "Goat Lab".
ReplyDeletePrior to reading this post, I never thought that dolphins and belugas could be used as spy animals. Recently, the CIA released dozens of classified files detailing its tests on several animals that would be used for spy missions. Ravens were trained to drop bugging devices on window sills, and as you wrote about in your post, dolphins were trained for various underwater missions. One of the more interesting missions the CIA had was one called Acoustic Kitty, where cats implanted with a microphone and a small radio transmitter were used to spy on the Kremlin and Soviet embassies. The CIA even looked into using migratory birds with sensors that would help in determining what chemical weapons the Soviet Union was testing based on the chemicals in the food they were eating. The majority of the non-marine spy animal projects were failures and deemed implausible, and many of them were cancelled after a few years of research.
ReplyDeleteSidenote: This post reminded of a recent meme conspiracy theory that states “All of the birds died in 1986 due to Reagan killing them, and replacing them with spies that are now watching us. The birds work for the Bourgeoisie.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49692534
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-cias-most-highly-trained-spies-werent-even-human-20149/