British navy intelligence claimed Friday that Russia was apparently coaching fight dolphins within the annexed Crimean peninsula to counter Ukrainian forces.
In its newest replace on the battle, U.Okay. Defence Intelligence mentioned the Russian Navy had invested closely in safety on the Black Sea Fleet’s fundamental base at Sevastopol since final 12 months.
“This includes at least four layers of nets and booms across the harbour entrance. In recent weeks, these defences have highly likely also been augmented by an increased number of trained marine mammals,” it added.
“Imagery shows a near doubling of floating mammal pens in the harbour which highly likely contain bottle-nosed dolphins.”
The animals have been “likely intended to counter enemy divers”, it added.
The Russian Navy has used Beluga whales and seals for a variety of missions in Arctic waters, the replace mentioned.
A harness-wearing whale that turned up in Norway in 2019, sparking hypothesis it was getting used for surveillance, reappeared off Sweden’s coast final month.
Norwegians nicknamed it “Hvaldimir” — a pun on the phrase “whale” in Norwegian (hval) and a nod to its alleged affiliation with Russia.
Hvaldimir’s harness had a mount appropriate for housing an motion digital camera, and the phrases “Equipment St. Petersburg” have been printed on the plastic clasps.
In 2016, Russia’s defence ministry sought to purchase 5 dolphins as a part of makes an attempt to revive its Soviet-era use of the very smart cetaceans for navy duties.
Both the Soviet Union and the United States used dolphins in the course of the Cold War, coaching them to detect submarines, mines and spot suspicious objects or people close to harbors and ships.
A retired Soviet colonel instructed AFP on the time that Moscow even educated dolphins to plant explosive units on enemy vessels.
They knew the way to detect deserted torpedoes and sunken ships within the Black Sea, mentioned Viktor Baranets, who witnessed navy dolphin coaching within the Soviet and post-Soviet eras.
The U.S. Navy used sea lions deployed to Bahrain in 2003 to help Operation Enduring Freedom after the 9/11 assaults in New York and Washington.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
