| Navy Dolphin Program, Point Mugu |
During his second year in this position, the Department of the Navy made a decision to begin a brand new program, The Navy Dolphin Program, at Point Mugu, the Study of Dolphins as a possible help to the Navy in under-sea Naval Warfare. They wanted the dolphin's SONAR system studied, how the dolphin was able to stay under water for so long even though they were a mammal and had to return to the surface for air. They wanted the communications system explored to see if there was any way this could be used as a countermeasure device between ships and subs. Many other scientific facts were to be sought in this study. Warfare. They wanted the dolphin's SONAR system studied, how the dolphin was able to stay under water for so long even though they were a mammal and had to return to the surface for air. They wanted the communications system is study.
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Over a period of some two years prior to this time, Dick had hundreds of Navy personnel in his diving classes at Point Mugu and Port Hueneme, another Naval base nearby. He was well known to management of both locations for his expertise in the water with SCUBA. Because of his SCUBA diving experience, Dick was chosen as one of six Navy scientists/divers to begin this program. So Dick became a member of the original Special Warfare study group for the Navy in the study of Dolphins and their application to Naval Warfare. No one in the United States was studying dolphins, there were no "dolphin shows" as we know them now, and no one had knowledge of the innards of the dolphin. There were no books about dolphins either. The only other people that were working with dolphins were the Russians.
Prior to taking on this new assignment, Dick and three of his fellow Navy divers chosen for this program were sent to Coronado Island in San Diego to go through a Diver Certification course that was offered by the Navy UDT/SEAL Special Warfare training facility. Included in Dick's class were about a dozen Army Special Forces officers who were chosen to begin a diving training program for Army Special Ops people to qualify them in the water. This class, unlike the usual class going through the SEAL training was to be a non-numbered and un-documented class since they were not going to be members of a Navy SEAL team but going on to other assignments. They were required to go through all the same training as any other SEAL candidate.
When deployed in combat situations later on, the dolphins were to be handled by Navy SEALS, and Dick and his fellow dolphin scientists were required by the Commanding Admirals at Point Mugu and China Lake Naval Air Facility which had the responsibility for the dolphin program to go through the SEAL training to be fully aware of the SEAL program and how its people operated and prepared for combat. They felt that this realistic training was necesary before the dolphin training was to begin. Navy SEALS that were to become dolphin handlers in combat situations in the future were to be trained by this cadre of researchers, and these trainers had to be qualified SEALS in order to carry out this mission. The four from Pt. Mugu successfully passed the SEAL training program at Coronado and were authorized to wear the SEAL badge, and their records reflected this qualification.
After all these years since the onset of the program, Navy SEALS are today being transported all over the world with their dolphins to perform special missions. The SEALS are trained at the dolphin facility at the SPAWAR (Space and Naval Warfare Systems) command in San Diego where the dolphins are housed. The SEALS and their dolphins are transported to their assignments in Navy C-130 aircraft based right at Point Mugu where Dick was formerly employed in the Dolphin Program. An additional unlikely circumstance is that Dick's son-in-law is a Navy Chief and is responsible for the maintenance of the squadron of C-130 aircraft that do the hauling of the Navy SEALS and their dolphins to their assignments.
This dolphin pioneering effort was the beginning of the study of dolphin by either military or civilian organizations, so every move was carefully documented for future use. The program operated very successfully at Point Mugu for two years and then ran into serious environmental difficulties, in that the ocean water that was used for the training on the beachfront at Point Mugu was severely polluted. Almost all of the dolphins brought to Point Mugu for the program perished, and the program came to a halt after two years. Navy planners were not sure of the future of the dolphin research and application to special warfare.
And by the way, the dolphin program was restarted after a year or so of decision making by Navy Brass. It was moved to Hawaii, and after a few years took up its permanent home at the Navy's Space and Special Warfare Center in San Diego. It now houses all the dolphins, their trainers, and the Navy SEALS that are being trained to take these animals out on missions all over the world.
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