The scheme, under the command of the U.S. Marine Corps, remains largely experimental, but its aquatic troops have already fought in previous U.S. wars during the 40-year history in the military, he said. Dolphins were deployed in the 1991 Gulf War as well as the Vietnam War.

The program started when U.S. military scientists were studying dolphins to understand how to design new streamline torpedoes to strike Soviet submarines at the height of the Cold War.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s797943.htm

you're too kind, the_gospel_of_thomas. i would have just said 'rtfa'

The Navy's sea mammal program started in the late 1950s and grew to comprise 140 animals during the Cold War.

Dolphins helped protect a pier in the Vietnam War. The last time the marine mammals were deployed overseas was in 2003 in the Iraqi harbor of Umm Qasr, where they located underwater mines and cleared a path for Marines to land, officials say.

They also were used in San Diego in 1996, when they patrolled the bay during the Republican National Convention.

her.royal.majesty


i'm an animal-loving hippie (no not that way, you sick farks), but as far as i'm concerned, the usn can do whatever they want to all the lovely sea beasties. mmmmmmm dress whites . . . i'll be in *somebody's* bunk, i don't give a damn whose.