Did fighting dolphins actually exist in the USSR and what did they do?

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Battle dolphins are not a myth at all. In the Soviet years, such animals really "served" in the Navy. They were trained to detect saboteurs and mines, to patrol the territory. A secret base for training dolphins has successfully existed in Sevastopol for decades. After the collapse of the USSR, the training of animals and the study of their unique abilities had to be curtailed. Now the training of fighting dolphins has been resumed.

Why the secret object was created

The Sevastopol Oceanarium was founded in the 1960s on the initiative of the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy Sergei Gorshkov and the famous intelligence officer, officer Viktor Kalganov. The idea came to Kalganov after reading the work of British scientist James Gray, who argued that dolphins can swim at speeds up to 37 kilometers per hour. The initial task of the Soviet base was to study the reasons for such a rapid movement of dolphins (high speed with low power) and use them in the construction of warships and especially nuclear submarines. In addition, the Soviet military had data that the US Navy had been training combat dolphins for several years and successfully used them to guard their ships, and did not want to lag behind the Americans.

A secret dolphinarium called "Playground 75" was opened in a very convenient Cossack Bay, which is quite narrow and "covered" on both sides. For delivery to the aquarium, dolphins were caught here, in the Black Sea. Bottlenose dolphins were the most suitable for such training.

The principles of the rapid movement of dolphins under water were studied by releasing them into a specially equipped hydrodynamic channel. To do this, experts pulled the line along the entire "corridor", attached fish to it and quickly moved it, which made the dolphin follow the "prey". Each time, the speed of advancement of the fish was increased.

There was a secret facility at the base, which housed not only aviaries and pools, but also pumping and water intake stations, as well as other service buildings. In the early 1970s, a project to investigate the causes of the high speed of dolphins was completed. The data obtained was really useful in the design of combat ships.

How dolphins were trained

Dolphins began to be trained in several directions at once: searching for mines, detecting saboteurs, patrolling and helping divers (rescue).

The work on finding mines was very interesting, and it once again proves how high the intelligence of dolphins is. A special lever was located at the stern of the boat. When the ship was moving, the dolphin, in a special cage, scanned the ground using its natural sonar. When a mine was found, he pressed the lever, and then dived to the mine and carefully placed a mark near it.

Dolphins were trained daily. At the same time, it was not easy to explain to the animal what exactly to look for. At the beginning of the training, dolphins designated all the man-made objects that they could find at the bottom - fragments of metal, parts of downed aircraft, and even ancient amphorae. But experts came up with a way out: the dolphin touched the object with a special rod, to which the plasticine was attached. From his prints and determined what exactly he found.

In total, fighting dolphins found about fifty sunken objects in the Black Sea - the overwhelming majority of them are mines, torpedoes and missiles. By the way, these animals are able to find objects even at a depth of one hundred meters.

The most difficult task for the dolphins was to spot the saboteurs. It happened this way: a dolphin in a cage scanned the entrance to the Sevastopol Bay. When a "saboteur" appeared (his role was played by a diver), the dolphin also pressed a special lever. However, there was also a minus: the animals fixed swimmers in fins well, but those who moved with the help of tugs were not perceived as saboteurs. Teaching a dolphin to react to all moving objects is the other extreme, which is also unacceptable.

But the fact that killer dolphins were trained at the base in Sevastopol is just a horror story.

What happened after the collapse of the USSR

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the aquarium was betrayed by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Dolphin specialists have stopped receiving funding, as well as fish for their pets. There was no support from Moscow.

The aquarium had to forget about scientific work. Since the early 1990s, dolphins have been "re-profiled" from fighting to circus: they performed in Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and other countries. Also, a dolphin therapy center was opened in the Sevastopol Aquarium: animals became helpers for children with cerebral palsy, stuttering, other diseases of the nervous system, as well as for autists.

Over 90% of pets have been lost since the early 1990s, according to former employees. By 2014, less than a dozen dolphins remained here. In recent years, work on rebuilding the base and training "military" dolphins has been resumed.

In general, the history of the aquarium can be described as follows. In 1966, a training base was opened, in 1970-1980 dolphins were involved in patrolling the Sevastopol Bay and other secret projects, from the beginning of the 1990s, training was gradually phased out, fighting dolphins were sold, and some died. In 2000, military training completely ceases. In 2012, the Ukrainian Navy resumes the operation of the Sevastopol base. In 2014, the base specialists begin to work as part of the Russian Navy.

Fighting beluga whales and their shoots

In 1987, three beluga whales arrived in Sevastopol. The animals were named Tishka, Breeze and White. For several years they were trained, but the belugas failed to show themselves in business - the Soviet Union collapsed.

The trainer Alla Azovtseva began to deal with dolphins. If before the combat Briza, White and Tishka were trained in detecting mines, now they began to be prepared for performances in the dolphinarium.

In the fall of 1991, the beluga whales … fled. When they were released into the bay to train, it turned out that the enclosure fence had a hole. For several days, the military searched for beluga whales with the help of aviation, but, alas, in vain, although the townspeople claimed that they had seen beluga whales in different bays of Sevastopol.

However, one of the fugitives - Breeze - was soon discovered. In Turkey. He appeared in the city of Gerze. Since it was not a simple beluga whale, but an animal trained in captivity, near the Turkish coast the Breeze was constantly reaching out to people, not at all afraid of them. The Turks gave the guest the name Aydin (Light). Only after a year and a half, the fugitive was caught and returned to the Crimea.

Briza was taken to Laspi, where he was "lodged" with another beluga whale, Egor, and dolphins. And here - a new escape. During a strong storm, the fence collapsed, and Aydin, together with his brothers, sailed away. Only Yegor could not escape - he got stuck in the fence, as a result of which he was seriously injured. He managed to save his life only with the help of the professionalism of doctors. Later he was transferred to the Moscow Dolphinarium, where he "worked" for over 16 years. In the summer of 2010 (when it was time to "retire") he was released into the White Sea.

As for Aydin, his further fate is unknown. He was last seen in the mid-1990s off the coast of Bulgaria - he swam to a British oil rig and let the workers feed him with fish.