Flipper Joins the Navy: Dolphins and Sea Lions at Kings Bay

This month forty-three years ago, the Secretary of the Navy made an announcement which brought big changes to Camden County: Kings Bay would become the future home port for the new Trident-missile submarines in the Atlantic Ocean. One unexpected change this base brought? Patrol dolphins and sea lions. Below, discover the history of these marine mammals’ Navy service and how they operate at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base today.

Underwater “Bomb Sniffers”

Since 1959, the U.S. Navy has trained bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions, both of which are known for their trainability and adaptability, in a San Diego-based marine mammal program. Here, they learn to detect, locate, mark, and recover objects such as mines and enemy divers in harbors, coastal areas, and the open sea. Today, this program hosts 90 dolphins and 50 sea lions.

Superior Skills

Dolphins naturally possess the most sophisticated sonar known to science. Dolphins “see” their environment through echolocation – by transmitting sound waves and interpreting the “echoes” as they bounce off underwater objects. They can create sounds with different frequencies and wave forms, making them able to tell a round object from a square one and a hollow object from a solid one more effectively than an electronic sonar can.

Both dolphins and sea lions have excellent low light vision and underwater directional hearing, which allow them to detect and track undersea targets even in murky, shallow, and turbulent waters (such as those of Kings Bay) where manmade technology struggles. They can also dive hundreds of feet below the surface without risk of decompression sickness, or “the bends,” like human divers.

Their skills have come in handy over the decades, as dolphins provided port security during the Vietnam War, protected the Third Fleet flagship overseeing Navy vessels that escorted Kuwaiti oil tankers in 1987, and performed port security in the Persian Gulf from 2003 to 2005.

Kings Bay Watch Dogs

Since 2005, ten California sea lions and four Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have provided swimmer defense and port security for the restricted waterway around Kings Bay. Between this base and Naval Base Kitsap near Seattle, dolphins and sea lions help protect roughly one-quarter of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Fortunately, so far they have only trained and never had to respond to a threat.

At Kings Bay, dolphins’ primary mission is to use their sophisticated sonar to detect unusual underwater activity, such as an intruder, and report it to their handlers. The dolphin which spots suspicious activity is then sent back with a lighted beacon which it releases near the intruder to alert Navy security forces.

Sea lions at Kings Bay are trained to locate and attach recovery lines to Navy equipment on the ocean floor. They can also carry a special cuff in their mouths which they may quickly clamp around an intruder’s leg. Base security then reels in the intruder by a rope attached to the cuff.

Part of the Team

While the work of protecting six $2 billion Ohio-class submarines and two guided missile submarines at Kings Bay is serious, trainers and marine mammals interact much like their counterparts at tourist attractions such as SeaWorld: the animals are rewarded with fish when they perform a task properly, and during free time they may socialize between their connected enclosures.

Experts argue the marine mammal program such as Kings Bay’s has benefited not just the U.S. Navy but the marine mammals, as well. The Navy’s partnership with these animals has generated over 1,200 scientific publications on their health, psychology, sensory systems, and behavior, allowing scientists to learn many things about them that we would not know otherwise.

The Navy emphasizes these dolphins and sea lions are not just subjects – they are teammates. The animals must agree; they have the freedom to simply swim away in the open ocean, but after every mission they return to the treats and floating enclosures waiting for them on base.

While there are unmanned underwater vehicles that can detect and disable mines, so far technology is no match for dolphins’ and sea lions’ abilities. Isn’t it wondrous that these “teammates” are more skilled and intelligent than any technology humans have yet devised? It is reassuring to know they are carrying out their important work right at our back door.

For more on St. Marys’ military history, join our new St. Marys at War Walking Tour!

You may also like our Cumberland Island Walking Tour: Haunting Ruins and Wild Horses or St. Marys Murder, Mayhem, and Martinis Walking Tour!