The Navy Is Depending on Dolphins to Keep the Strait of Hormuz Open

[Randle Pat McMurphy]

PETA freaks need not reply

The Navy Is Depending on Dolphins to Keep the Strait of Hormuz Open - Yahoo! News


The Navy Is Depending on Dolphins to Keep the Strait of Hormuz Open


If Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. Navy has a backup plan to save one-fifth of the world's daily oil trade: send in the dolphins.

The threat of Iran closing the strait has reached a fever pitch, reports today's New York Times, with U.S. officials warning Iran's supreme leader that such moves would cross a "red line" provoking a U.S. response. Iran could block the strait with any assortment of mines, armed speed boats or anti-ship cruise missiles but according to Michael Connell at the Center for Naval Analysis, “The immediate issue [for the U.S. military] is to get the mines.” To solve that problem, the Navy has a solution that isn't heavily-advertised but has a time-tested success rate: mine-detecting dolphins.

"We've got dolphins," said retired Adm. Tim Keating in a Wednesday interview with NPR. Keating commanded the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain during the run-up to the Iraq war. He sounded uncomfortable with elaborating on the Navy's use of the lovable mammals but said in a situation like the standoff in Hormuz, Navy-trained dolphins would come in handy:

KEATING: They are astounding in their ability to detect underwater objects.

NPR's TOM BOWMAN: Dolphins were sent to the Persian Gulf as part of the American invasion force in Iraq.

KEATING: I'd rather not talk about whether we used them or not. They were present in theater.

BOWMAN: But you can't say whether you used them or not.

KEATING: I'd rather not.

The invasion of Iraq was the last time the minesweeping capability of dolphins were widely-touted. "Dolphins - - which possess sonar so keen they can discern a quarter from a dime when blindfolded and spot a 3-inch metal sphere from 370 feet away -- are invaluable minesweepers," reported The San Francisco Chronicle. In 2010, the Seattle Times reported that the Navy has 80 bottlenose dolphins in the San Diego Bay alone. They are taught to hunt for mines and drop acoustic transponders nearby. The photo above shows a dolphin with a tracking device attached to its fin. According to a report in 2003, the dolphins only detect the mines. Destroying them is left up to the Navy's human divers. Still, the mammals are large enough to detonate a live mine, a prospect that doesn't delight animal rights groups.

When this was an issue in 2003, lobbying for the rights of dolphins was much more politically sensitive given that scores of U.S. men and women were being sent into battle as well. "We're not going to second-guess the Navy at a time of war," said Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with the Humane Society. "But we don't support the use of marine mammals for military use." According to the Chronicle, the two groups emphasized that "they were not placing the lives of animals above those of troops. But they questioned the ethics and wisdom of using wild animals to ensure safe passage through hostile waters." Petitions have also been sent to the Defense Department protesting their use:

[Since] forces regard the Navy dolphins as enemy dolphins, there might be attempts on the dolphins lives. There is also the risk of indiscriminate killing of wild dolphin populations because any dolphin can potentially be an enemy dolphin. Also, the inherent danger that a dolphin may be injured or killed in mine-hunting operations remains a very real threat.

Back in 2003, Tom LaPuzza, a spokesman for the San Diego-based Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, cast aside the skepticism about how the dolphins were treated:

By nature, dolphins are naturally reliable and trustworthy animals who seem to enjoy pleasing their human handlers, LaPuzza said. When they are released into the ocean for missions, "they come back to the handler, the trainer" ashore or on a ship.

[ThaBusdriver]

Project X2 Aquamarine!
let's get matthew broderick, and helen hunt out of obscurity.
the good news is pamela anderson will soon be taking her clothes off once peta jumps on this.

[Triballife]

For oil really....fuked up royally....slaves to oil.....LMAO

[ThaBusdriver]

Originally Posted by Triballife

For oil really....fuked up royally....slaves to oil.....LMAO

I'm pretty sure the dolphins do it for fish

[Triballife]

Originally Posted by ThaBusdriver

I'm pretty sure the dolphins do it for fish

Americans are slaves to oil not the dolphins....the world in general...all this crap, and all the military crap just for oil???? Spend some of that money domestically and fix some problems at home....

[ThaBusdriver]

Originally Posted by Triballife

Americans are slaves to oil not the dolphins....the world in general...all this crap, and all the military crap just for oil???? Spend some of that money domestically and fix some problems at home....

I'm just being antagonistic now, but if the dolphins are working for the americans, wouldn't that indirectly make them slaves to oil as well?

Furthemore, if everything ran off canola oil, would that make all of us slaves to grocery retailers?
i'm still confused

[Triballife]

Originally Posted by ThaBusdriver

I'm just being antagonistic now, but if the dolphins are working for the americans, wouldn't that indirectly make them slaves to oil as well?

Furthemore, if everything ran off canola oil, would that make all of us slaves to grocery retailers?
i'm still confused

If anything the dolphins if you consider them slaves to oil also are unknowing slaves....we all know oil is not a good thing environmentally yet wars are fought, extreme measures taken in order to guarantee the flow of oil continues...thus we are slaves to it...if everything ran off canola and the world acted the same way as they do now then yes I'd consider us slaves to it....the west needs to throw huge money at R and D into alternative fuel sources...use the money wasted fighting these useless wars for oil and throw into R and D....no brainer IMO...the world WILL run out sometime, why not be ahead of the game in terms of a alternative source....Whats even more important...WATER will be the next important commodity....we need to keep the water supply we have here in Canada safe and protected...we have the worlds largest supply of fresh water....no foreign ownership...no foreign interference...

[ThaBusdriver]

Originally Posted by Triballife

If anything the dolphins if you consider them slaves to oil also are unknowing slaves....we all know oil is not a good thing environmentally yet wars are fought, extreme measures taken in order to guarantee the flow of oil continues...thus we are slaves to it...if everything ran off canola and the world acted the same way as they do now then yes I'd consider us slaves to it....the west needs to throw huge money at R and D into alternative fuel sources...use the money wasted fighting these useless wars for oil and throw into R and D....no brainer IMO...the world WILL run out sometime, why not be ahead of the game in terms of a alternative source....Whats even more important...WATER will be the next important commodity....we need to keep the water supply we have here in Canada safe and protected...we have the worlds largest supply of fresh water....no foreign ownership...no foreign interference...

So when we start using fresh water for hydrogen fuel cells we're really f***ed we should teach dolphins to detect conaminants in our fw supply

[Burgh Brew Crew]

I wonder if the Navy still has the incredible Mr. Limpett on stand by?

[FalconFreak]

Originally Posted by Triballife

Americans are slaves to oil not the dolphins....the world in general...all this crap, and all the military crap just for oil???? Spend some of that money domestically and fix some problems at home....

Tribal are you really this pathetically ignorant? or just being a horses ass

[Triballife]

Originally Posted by ThaBusdriver

So when we start using fresh water for hydrogen fuel cells we're really f***ed we should teach dolphins to detect conaminants in our fw supply

??????????????????????????????Safe and protected in terms of not allowing anyone to get control of it....Contaminants you kidding right....with all the pollution caused by industry I doubt there are many non-contaminated fw sources left anywhere in the world...

[Triballife]

Originally Posted by FalconFreak

Tribal are you really this pathetically ignorant? or just being a horses ass

I said the world is a slave to oil....it is....so many things are made of it...we are hooked just like a crack baby...ignorant, no....maybe you are if you believe we(society) are not slaves to it...look at what stupid ass countries go through to make sure they keep getting it...I'd say thats being a slave to it

[JR7302001]

I'm glad we have the Canadian Army protecting that fresh water supply, wouldn't know what we would do if something happened to those 5 guys!

[Triballife]

Originally Posted by JR7302001

I'm glad we have the Canadian Army protecting that fresh water supply, wouldn't know what we would do if something happened to those 5 guys!

Its actually 6 not 5....you forgot to include last years graduating recruit...

[ThaBusdriver]

Originally Posted by Triballife

??????????????????????????????Safe and protected in terms of not allowing anyone to get control of it....Contaminants you kidding right....with all the pollution caused by industry I doubt there are many non-contaminated fw sources left anywhere in the world...

you should checkout the hydrostatic fracturing methods for harvesting natural gas (another alternate resource). Bing dick cheney natural gas.
some in the southern states can literally set their faucets on fire. And now they want to frac the shale basin fron PA to NY affecting the water supply for what like 30-40 million. Whoa nelly! Captain industry will always try to bitchslap mother natue till she takes off her shoe a la Eddie Murphy's mom.
GOOney GOO HOO gus!