Military Dolphins: What Jobs Do They Perform in the U.S. Navy?

Animals have been loyal helpers to people in every area of life: companions, workers, rescuers, guides, guardians, and medical support. They have also been co-opted into one of humans’ most dangerous and regrettable activities: war. Horses, dogs, camels, pigeons, and elephants have all played tremendous roles in past conflicts. You might be surprised to find out that the navies of the United States and a few other countries have actually trained dolphins for military porpoises (oops, sorry, purposes). Not only that, seals, sea lions, and beluga whales have all been drafted as well. (Which gives a whole new layer of dimension to the concept of a Navy SEAL!!) Read on to learn more about how these aquatic friends help keep the seas safe.

How Smart Are Dolphins?

Marine biologists believe that dolphins are smarter than primates and are in fact the second-smartest species on Earth after people. What makes them so clever? They have large brains with a high brain-to-body weight ratio. This enables them to understand new situations, engage in abstract thinking, and solve difficult problems. One of the most telling indications of dolphins’ intelligence is that they can recognize themselves in a mirror and will turn from side to side to see parts of their bodies that are normally outside their field of vision.

Their social behavior is also advanced. They have sophisticated ways to communicate with one another, including using unique whistles as specific names for individuals in their pod. They form social groups, which makes them easier to train than animals that are primarily solitary. Dolphins cooperate to hunt and protect each other. They take special care of injured members of their pod but sometimes also show empathy to other species. Anecdotal reports describe them circling stranded swimmers to protect them from sharks.

The American Military Dolphin Program

The United States and the Soviet Union both had military dolphin programs during the Cold War. The U.S. used them during the Vietnam War and both of the Persian Gulf Wars. As of 2019, there were 70 dolphins and 30 sea lions in the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program based in California. In all, the program tested about 19 different species for their suitability for military missions and selected dolphins for their sonar, which could be used to find mines, and seals for their underwater vision for spotting enemy swimmers.

The Russian Military Dolphin Program

The Soviet dolphin program was based in Sevastopol, Crimea, and was inherited by the newly-independent country of Ukraine with the collapse of communism. The BBC reported that in 2000, Ukraine sold the animals to Iran, and their trainer moved there to continue working with them. Other reports say Ukraine restarted the program in 2012 but that it was disrupted when the Russians took over Crimea in 2014. Russia has apparently resurrected the program, with the defense ministry having purchased five bottlenose dolphins from a Moscow dolphinarium and allegedly deployed them in 2022-23 to protect the Sevastopol Naval Base from being attacked by Ukraine.

What Tasks Do Military Dolphins Perform?

Some of the jobs dolphins, seals, and other marine mammals can do include rescuing injured or lost naval swimmers, guarding ships from sabotage by enemy divers, finding mines in the water, locating lost equipment on the seabed, and carrying tools for divers working underwater. Do they carry out combat missions to kill enemy divers? The Navy claims not, saying that dolphins cannot be trained to attack people.

Why not use a human to do these jobs? The sea is not the natural environment of people. It takes a lot of expensive equipment and training for humans to survive and work in it. Marine mammals have evolved with layers of insulating fat, fins and aerodynamic body shapes, camouflaged coloration, the ability to hold their breath for long periods of time, resistance to high water pressure, underwater vision, and biosonar. Animals can also perform these jobs in a more stealthy way; an enemy diver or detection system might ignore them, whereas a human swimmer would be more noticeable. Finally, in the end, an animal’s life is considered more expendable than a human life and thus more appropriate to risk in high-value but dangerous missions.

How are Military Dolphins Trained?

Marine biologists and veterinarians work for the U.S. Navy to train and care for its dolphins and sea lions. They are divided into 5 teams. Three of these focus on training the animals to locate mines, a fourth focuses on detecting swimmers, and the fifth works on recovering objects in the water and on the ocean floor. The animals are trained in similar ways as military dogs and hunting dogs, using rewards (in this case, fish) when tasks are completed correctly. Using these marine animals for military missions does raise some ethical concerns. We’ll share three examples.

1. Cruel Training Methods

Because the reward for training is food, dolphins will stop complying when they are not hungry. So, the Navy installs anti-foraging devices that keep the animals from fully opening their mouths to feed, keeping them dependent on their trainers for food. Depending on whether the device causes any pain and how long it is implemented during a mission, this practice could be considered animal cruelty.

2. Weaponizing Dolphins

Although the United States military claims that dolphins cannot be trained to hurt people, this is difficult to believe. Dogs, elephants, and other intelligent animals can be trained to attack people, so why not dolphins? In the wild, dolphins are not always friendly to people—they can be skittish and unpredictable. They’re also well-equipped to defend themselves or go on the attack in the water. They have hard snouts made of bone. They can injure or kill sharks by ramming them at high speed in their underbellies or gills. It’s not hard to see how this ability could be deployed against a diver or his air tanks.

Conceivably, they could also be used like undersea drones. Equipped with cameras and weapons, a dolphin could help a remote operator fire a fatal harpoon at an enemy diver. Moreover, it would not be difficult to attach explosives to the animal to detonate in a military suicide mission. Given the expense and training invested in military dolphins, this would certainly not be the best use for them. But it’s not hard to imagine situations where the military might consider this a good trade-off with a high-value target.

3. Dolphins as Targets of War

Finally, if countries believe that their enemies are using dolphins to spy on them or sabotage their undersea assets, they could begin to slaughter all dolphins in their waters because they cannot easily tell which ones have been trained and which are still wild. This might particularly take place during an actual armed conflict when environmental concerns are not the first consideration.

Mechanical Replacements

Of course, the best solution would be an end to war altogether and the suffering it causes for all species. But based on human history, we can be fairly certain that’s not going to happen. For dolphins, the next best thing may be the development of AI and drone technology. Drones are able to destroy military targets many times more expensive than they are, so they are cost-effective weapons. Ukraine has been able to use sea-based drones to sink multiple Russian ships of the Black Sea fleet. Over time, sea drones will become even cheaper, smarter, and more ubiquitous. This technology will likely replace military dolphins just like radios, humvees, and tanks have replaced military pigeons, horses, and elephants.