Satellite images show dolphins trained by Russian Navy to protect Black Sea naval base

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Russia

has deployed trained dolphins during its

to protect the Sevastopol naval base in the Black Sea, reports

, the US Naval Institute's information website.

The Russian Navy has placed two dolphin pens at the entrance to the port of

, protected just inside a jetty.

The pens were moved there in February, at the start of the invasion of

according to a review of images from the Maxar satellite.

According to

, an analyst specializing in Defense at

,

is the most important naval base of the Russian Navy in the

.

Dolphins may be tasked with counter-diving operations, a traditional role for which both the US and Russia have trained marine mammals.

This could prevent Ukrainian special operations forces from infiltrating the underwater port

.

Inside the port, many high-value Russian Navy ships are situated out of range of Ukrainian missiles but

, according to Maxar photos seen by

.

In 1960, the US Navy first began its studies on dolphins.

At first, they limited themselves to testing how hydrodynamic dolphins were, and endeavored to apply the findings to improve torpedo performance.

But it was in 1967 that the US Navy's Marine Mammal Program became a major project.

The program, still underway, began training dolphins for minesweeping and forced protection missions.

In addition, the dolphins have been trained to protect the harbors against enemy divers.

When a diver approaches, the dolphin is trained to hit a device on the person's back, which drags them to the surface.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Navy developed several marine mammal training programs, including training for dolphins in the

.

The unit was based in

, near

, where it is still based today.

In the northern Arctic, the

also uses different types of marine mammals.

Beluga whales and seals, both of which have thick layers of blubber to keep them warm, are better protected from the cold than the bottlenose dolphins used in the

.

The Arctic unit has also become more active in recent years regarding the use of marine mammals.

Now beluga whale pens have also been established at Olenya Guba, the secret naval base of GUGI (Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research).

It's not just the Arctic that has shown signs of increased use of Russian marine mammals.

In 2018,

dolphins deployed for several months to the Russian Mediterranean Sea naval base in

, Syria, satellite photos also showed.

The mobile pens used for that deployment were very similar to those currently in the port of

.

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