weapons platforms in ancient history. The Indians first domes- ticated elephants and used them in battle. In addition to trampling the enemy, these pachyderms supported platforms to give ar- chers a height advantage. “Elephants are scary if you’ve
never fought against them be- fore,” says Brice. “They were trained to kill, so they made an
desert camel experiment in the mid- 1800s. As the nation prepared to explore the arid western states and establish a travel route from Texas to
and those not stolen disappeared into the Arizona desert, where they bred. As a result, desert camel sightings were common for decades thereafter.
Underwater interests
In the 1950s, the Department of the Navy studied white-sided dolphins, hoping the marine mammals could aid in the development of a more hydrodynamic torpedo. When that
indomitable weapon. There was a strong intimidation factor.” Hannibal bringing elephants across
the Alps into Italy during the Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.) is perhaps the best-known example of their mili- tary use. It is believed the Carthagin- ian general left with 35 or 40 of the beasts, but his army lost many to the winter cold, accidents, and marauders. By the end of Hannibal’s campaign, only one elephant survived.
Ships of the desert
One of the most unusual uses of animals by the U.S. military was the
6 2 MI L I T A R Y O F F I C E R J U N E 2 0 1 0
California, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis thought camels would be more useful than horses because they were accustomed to desert conditions. The first camels arrived in the U.S.
from Syria in 1856. A Syrian trainer named Hadji Ali led the 1857 expedi- tion across the American southwest. Though mule skinners loathed the cantankerous beasts, the experiment proved a success; the camels easily adapted to the desert heat and were able to carry more than any horse. The onset of the Civil War brought
the desert camel experiment to an end. The animals were turned loose,
didn’t work out, researchers con- sidered military applications for the animals’ natural sonar. Today, the Navy’s San Diego-based
Marine Mammal Program employs 80 bottlenose dolphins, 25 California sea lions, and one beluga whale, ac- cording to Tom LaPuzza, a public affairs specialist with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pa- cific. Dolphins identify divers and underwater mines, and sea lions lo- cate and retrieve items at depths too dangerous for humans. Dolphins were deployed in
1970 to Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam,
IMAGES: CORBIS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88