"Yeah, but do they have underwater lasers?" Topic

link

Three cheers for Flipper!

Of all the truly bizarre job descriptions my friends and family have had in the military, dolphin trainer would win the day.

Das Limpet!

Think I saw this with George C. Scott…

imdb.com/title/tt0069946

I thought they might try out some of the UUV that have been mentioned in magazines.

They do have underwater lasers but you can dodge them because they move more slowly.

"Think I saw this with George C. Scott…"

I remember seeing this as a kid. The ending had me crying my eyes out :(

Flipper: The Only True UAV

(unmanned aquatic vehicle).

dolphins have been in and working for the US navy for 50+ years and get over looked all the time making it easier for them to do their jobs under the cloak of "I've seen that movie" and "dolphins yea right" They do their job and no one ever knows about it. Even when the bad guys see them "Its only some dolphins"

Lasers underwater won't work as a weapon very well.

Water isn't transparent to coherent light.

"That's a joke, son. A flag waver. A gag. You're built to low. The fast ones keep going over your head. You got a hole in your glove. I keep pitchin' em and you keep missin' em."--- Foghorn Leghorn

That boy's about as sharp as a billard ball.

My fave was always:

"…about as sharp as a sack of wet mice."

YouTube link

I have worked at two places they did dolphin training for such purpoises… at NAS Point Mugu and at MCAS Kaneohe.

"Lasers underwater won't work as a weapon very well."

So far, lasers don't work very well as weapons in air or vacuums, either :)

I got to do a tour of the dolphin facility in San Diego back in the early 90s.

The thing that sticks in my head… one of the MMS's (Marine Mammal Systems) aka Flipper, had found a stick and had it tucked under his flipper like a guy would carry a magazine to the john.

I was more than a little surpised, and I pointed it out to the Senior Chief that was leading our group around. Of course he's worried this dolphin is going to hurt itself with this twig.

He kneels on the side of the dock, and is splashing the water in the pen, trying to get Flipper to come to him to give up its new toy.

Of course, we could all tell the dolphin figured out what was up in half a second and I swear that was the most evil smile I'd ever seen on a fish's face…

Don't know if the Senior Chief ever did get that stick.

I know there was a some talk in the late 80s and 90s (as SDI was starting to lose steam – at least the big efforts) about using blue-green lasers that would be tuned to allow them pass through sea-water. But they were looking at detection/communication applications. Not sure if the research went anywhere.

Back on topic, yes there are underwater lasers. They are used for mine detection:

link

PDF link

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIDAR

Rick

Still have a couple of years, in 'A Deeper Sea' (1992 – Alexander Jablokov) the Russians have learned to communicate with the cetaceans and arm them for combat. All by 2015.

Of course the cetaceans have their own agenda and it isn't playing the clown a Marine Land. Or being used as 'mine dogs.'

One of my favorite books. Nice look at unintended consequences.

Flying boats, hover craft, home-made submarines and mine detecting dolphins. This is gonna be one hell of a conflict.

What, no frickin' sea bass?

"Star Tide Rising" by Brin…. Dolphins flying space ships…
(Part of the Uplift war series – very much worth a read!!!!)

link