On January 11, Israel's Jerusalem Post published an article titled "Zionist Dolphin Killers? Hamas claims they exist" article said that Hamas recently released a video claiming that a frog from its Qassam Brigade Maritime Commando was killed by an Israeli military dolphin off the coast of the Gaza Strip, and showed the "murder weapon" they found at the scene of the incident - a dolphin hood and harness with a special device.
Dolphin-specific hoods and straps displayed by Hamas
This may sound ridiculous and ridiculous, but it is an indisputable fact that for a long time, some countries have dedicated themselves to training marine animals such as dolphins, seals and sea lions to become masters and killers of underwater special operations.
Because these marine animals swim deeper and faster than divers, this makes their applications valuable for marking objects or retrieving objects from the seafloor, and marine mammals are better suited to be trained against underwater invaders.
For example, a trained sea lion can function as a "shallow water intruder detection system" – a sea lion carrying a line and a D-spring clip approaches the diver from behind, clips the clip to their leg, and swims away. The divers hadn't even seen the sea lions yet, and were dragged away by security guards like fish. For example, when a specially trained dolphin finds an intruder, it will touch the owner's boat gang with its nose to warn the police. At this point, the trainer places a conical buoy on the dolphin's nose, which the dolphin can use to "mark" the intruder — a floating buoy on the surface of the sea that indicates the exact location of the intruder by flashing lights.
Dolphins trained by the U.S. Navy that can carry reconnaissance equipment
The U.S. Navy began implementing the Marine Mammal Program as early as the 1960s, and its website still states: "Dolphins and sea lions are able to assist security personnel in detecting and apprehending unauthorized swimmers and divers who may attempt to harm Navy personnel, vessels, or port facilities." However, the U.S. Navy has flatly denied that it has ever used marine mammals such as dolphins as weapons, saying in an official statement: "The Navy has not trained, nor has it ever trained marine mammals to harm humans in any way or carry weapons to destroy ships." ”
However, this was not the case disclosed by some persons who had been involved in or involved in the program.
Brandon Webber, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, said they had been trained to evade enemy dolphins. The trainer strapped a device to the dolphin's head with a compressed gas needle. Once the dolphin finds the "enemy frogman", it will track down and carry out the impact. At this moment, the gas needle will shoot out and pierce the frogman, causing embolism and soon causing it to die.
A former U.S. Navy Marine Animal Trainer described the combat weapon of military dolphins this way: "A large subcutaneous syringe containing pressurized carbon dioxide is enough to 'blow up' enemy divers." ”
Coincidentally, U.S. cetacean expert Doug Carteridge said he saw some dolphins trained as "frogman attackers" wearing hollow needle straps fitted with a 2,000 pound-force/square-inch carbon dioxide cylinder during a visit to Russia's marine animal training ground in Sevastopol. He argues that Russia seems to be "replicating" the "weapons" of the United States.
An Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin swimming in the water
It is worth mentioning that impact is an effective natural defense method for dolphins, and even sharks are afraid of it. This is because dolphins move quickly and move quickly, and with their bony pointed noses, they can crash into the shark's soft abdomen at high speed, causing serious damage to its interior and even killing it. But the problem with this is that as long as dolphins share waters with humans, they are like a gun with a bullet loaded! They will hunt down enemy divers, but they may also attack their own personnel and even trainers. In fact, the dolphin didn't know it was being trained as a terrible "killer" and thought it was learning a new "game."
Now, looking back at the dolphin-specific hood and strap displayed by the Hamas organization with special devices, is it somewhat similar to the military dolphin "combat weapon" mentioned above? Hamas also claims that its Qassam Maritime Commando "caught alive" a military dolphin specially trained by Israel in 2015.
The Israeli argument is even more interesting – the increasing number of underwater attacks by Hamas has led israel to engage in unconventional maritime operations in addition to conventional strikes.
In 2014, five Hamas frogmen were killed while attempting to attack an Israeli military base in the waters off the Gaza border. In 2018, the Israeli Air Force destroyed a "maritime stronghold" where Hamas frogmen were able to carry out sea infiltration and terrorist attacks. In May 2020, the Israeli military killed Hammaster personnel who tried to cast armed underwater drones from shore and destroyed at least one autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle that attempted to attack an Israeli Navy ship.
Online rumors of bottlenose dolphins trained by the Israeli Navy
A growing body of information indicates that in order to detect, intercept and deter the infiltrated and terrorist Hamas frogmen, the Israel Defense Forces, while setting up underwater obstacles and deploying special sonar devices, have also specially trained a group of "underwater guard dogs" - military dolphins equipped with "combat weapons", relying on the Animal Behavior Center for Safe Applications of Tel Aviv University, which is known for training sniffing dogs.
According to open source network intelligence (OSINT) and information disclosed by the media, there are currently four countries in the world that have developed and implemented the "Marine Mammal Program" (mainly bottlenose dolphins, but also beluga whales, seals and sea lions): the United States, Russia, Israel and North Korea. Although Sweden tried to train seals in the 1940s, no concrete implementation plans have been seen since then.
United States. As the first and most experienced implementer of the Marine Mammal Program, the U.S. Navy has trained a group of bottlenose dolphins and 50 California sea lions capable of hunting down frogmen, detecting explosives such as mines, and recovering underwater test items, relying on specialized facilities in places such as San Diego and Hawaii. How it has progressed and how effective it has been, here are a few examples:
A project implemented by the U.S. Navy's Marine Mammal Program
In response to the threat of mines from the tanker attacks of the 1980s and the gulf war that followed, the U.S. Navy established in 1997 a mine-sweeping test team composed of explosive ordnance disposal divers, underwater special warfare and reconnaissance frogmen, and bottlenose dolphins to conduct a comprehensive examination and comprehensive assessment of the tactics and means of striking near-shore mines.
In May 2013, two military dolphins discovered a Nearly intact Howell torpedo buried in silt for more than a hundred years on the ocean floor of Southern California.
Dolphins are strong swimmers, but their endurance is limited. In order to adapt to the requirements of remote special missions, the U.S. Navy has built at least four semi-submersible Dolphin Stealth Carriers (LVCs) in recent years, the details of which are still difficult to know.
Russia. During the Soviet period, a relatively comprehensive and diverse "Marine Mammal Program" was developed. Although greatly affected by the collapse of the Soviet Union, enforcement now appears to have resumed. There are two different projects in the pipeline:
Project implemented by the Russian Navy "Marine Mammal Program"
One is to rely on the submarine base of the Northern Fleet on the Kola Peninsula to train beluga whales and seals suitable for activity in cold Arctic waters, and the main task is to defend the base underwater and mark frogmen. It is also said that the Murmansk Institute of Marine Biology is relying on the research of marine mammals in the Arctic.
The second is to train dolphins at the Sevastopol base of the Black Sea Fleet. Some trained dolphins were allegedly deployed to the Syrian port of Tartus for underwater defense missions.
Norwegian fishermen discover beluga whales trained by the Russian Navy
On April 22, 2019, Norwegian fishermen spotted a beluga whale near Ingui Island, wearing a tight harness used to secure reconnaissance equipment. Interestingly, the beluga whale swam very calmly to the side of the fishing boat and very tamely asked the fishermen to remove the straps they were wearing with the words "St. Petersburg Equipment" printed on them. From this, it is judged that the beluga whale probably escaped from the Russian naval submarine base on the Kola Peninsula.
Recent commercial satellite imagery shows that the Russian Navy has moved some of its beluga whales to the newly established Deer Bay base. If true, the Russian Navy has three marine mammal training sites.
Israel. If it weren't for Hamas accusing Israel of training dolphins to hunt down frogmen, the world would not have known that Israel was also a country linked to the Marine Mammal Program. While the evidence submitted by Hamas has yet to be confirmed, the fact that Israel has deployed dolphins at key locations along the coast to defend against underwater frogmen is credible.
North Korea. In November 2020, the U.S. Naval Research Institute website first revealed that North Korea had established a new base near Nampo on the west coast to conduct a military dolphin research and training program, but the specific mission was ominous.
Sweden. In 1941, Sweden established a base near the Stockholm Archipelago to train seals to search for mines, submarines and torpedoes, thus setting a precedent for the world's Marine Mammal Program. But that was all, and there was no progress since.