DOLPHINS have been used by the US Navy for decades.

Officials have deployed the intelligent creatures to detect underwater explosives, warn off enemy swimmers, and protect naval bases.

Dolphins have been trained by the US Navy for decades

The creatures have helped in military missions all over the world

Dolphins have been trained by the Navy since the 1960s.

The US has at least 70 bottlenose dolphins at its naval base in San Diego, California.

Five dolphins were deployed by the Navy to guard off enemy swimmers in Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay in the 1970s.

Dolphins were used for underwater surveillance during the Iran-Iraq war in 1987.

And, pods were deployed during the early stages of the Iraq War in 2003, Task and Purpose revealed.

The use of dolphins in the Navy was originally classified before the program was declassified in the 1990s.

This led to allegations that the creatures were being used as offensive weapons – claims which have been vehemently denied by the US Navy marine mammal program.

Dolphins are an extremely valuable asset because of their excellent hearing skills.

They are renowned for their echolocation capabilities.

This skill helps them detect mines that have been planted deep underwater as they comb the oceans, according to the Naval Information Warfare Center.

Dolphins can find mines and drop transponders that help crews retrieve explosives,

Bob Olds, of the Marine Mammal Program, told WLRN: “They’re really good at finding stuff.

“Probably their most impressive capability is their ability to find objects that are completely buried underneath the seafloor.”

Lt. Josh Frey, who was part of the US 5th Fleet based in Bahrain between 2002-05, told MSNBC in 2003: “The capability that mammals bring to demining efforts is that they have a very sophisticated form of biological sonar … to help them avoid predators and find food.

SOPHISTICATED CREATURES

“These natural adaptations make the mammals valuable to Navy human personnel.”

Frey revealed that dolphins are cleared from the ocean before detonation takes place.

Dolphins can plunge to hundreds of feet below the surface and there’s no risk that the animals will get The Bends.

The Bends is a form of decompression sickness and can affect human divers when nitrogen gas is released from the bloodstream.

It’s caused when divers rise to the surface too rapidly.

Dolphins do not just detect missiles; they can also protect naval ships from threats and guard bases.

GUARDING OFF THREATS

The creatures are able to block potentially threatening swimmers that have the intention of harming Naval vessels or the people onboard.

The marine animals also protect the waters surrounding the submarine base Naval Base Kitsap.

More than 2,000 nuclear warheads are stored at the Bangor, Washington base.

Dolphins have been used there since 2010, Navy spokesperson Chris Haley told Insider in 2015.

The US is not the only country that uses dolphins as part of its military operations.

Russia deployed two pods at its naval base at Sevastopol after its flagship vessel the Moskva was sunk by Ukraine earlier this month.

According to satellite images analyzed by the US Naval Institute (USNI), the two dolphin pods were moved to the Black Sea base in February at the start of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

‘KILLER PODS’

Dolphins could be deployed for counter-dive operations and used to block Ukrainian forces from entering the harbor.

Sevastopol is the Russian Navy’s most crucial naval base, where a large number of ships are anchored.

The vessels stationed at the base are vulnerable to underwater attacks.

Russia has trained dolphins for military purposes in the past, using them to attack foreign ships with mines.

The Soviet Union navy had a number of marine mammal programs including dolphin training at Kazachya Bukhta near Sevastopol.

The mammals were capable of planting bombs on ships and attacking divers with guns strapped to their heads.

And, marine mercenaries were purchased by Iran in the 2000s in an attempt to destroy US ships with mines.

Some were even trained to swim up to enemy boats with mines strapped to them, blowing holes in the ships – and themselves.

Military officials have gushed over the role of dolphins, praising their detection capabilities

Dolphins have been trained to find mines and detect torpedoes