WORLD
Rare 19th century torpedo discovered by a dolphin as it was being trained by the Navy to find explosives
Baku, May 20 (AZERTAC). A rare, antique torpedo that was last fired almost 120 years ago has been uncovered at the bottom of the sea - by a dolphin working for the US Navy.
The bottlenose dolphin, named Ten, found the brass relic, known as the Howell torpedo, during a routine patrol and reconnaissance training mission off the coast of California.
The US Navy employs dolphins - and some sealions - to scour the watery depths for mines, shipwrecks and enemy divers.
But 19th century naval weaponry is a rare find indeed, especially one that has lain undisturbed on the ocean bed for nearly 120 years.
'We've never found anything like this,' Mike Rothe, who heads the dolphin search programme, told the Los Angeles Times. 'Never.'
In its heyday, the 11-foot Howell torpedo was considered a masterpiece of innovation and one of the most technologically-advanced pieces of military hardware in the US Navy's arsenal.
Fired from above water of through submerged torpedo tubes, could could cut silently through the water at speeds of 25 knots and sink an unsuspecting enemy warship from up to 700 yards away.
Only fifty were ever built by a Rhode Island company between 1870 and 1899, before it was outdated by another made by a rival firm.
Until now, it was believed there was just one left in existence - on display at the Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, Washington.
It may seem pertinent that something that was seen as the embodiment of technological advancement was discovered more than a century later by trained mammals and not state-of-the-art computers.
But the US Navy is increasingly turning to dolphins to search the ocean beds, because their on-board scanning systems remain unmatched by any man-made sonar.
Currently there are 80 bottlenose dolphins and 50 sealions being trained at Point Loma facility for mine detection, mine clearing and swimmer protection.
Indeed, during the 2003 Iraq invasion, dolphins were dispatched to the Persian Gulf to hunt for mines and enemy divers. They are also used to guard submarines in Georgia and Washington State.
Experts say they are swifter and more accurate at detecting undersea objects than even the most sophisticated technology thanks to a keen eyesight and mysteriously-complex bio-sonar system.