The ladies carrying picket signs have left the main gate at Submarine Base, Bangor. They have retreated to the parlors of their Seattle homes to plot the next strike at the Navy's dolphin program. While chatting about such weighty matters, they knit sweaters for the sea mammals. This novel idea stems from their conviction that the waters of Hood Canal and Puget Sound are too cold for the trained dolphins. These ladies are among a powerful civilian force of animal rights activists. They are justifiably determined to save animals from the abuse of humans, but unfortunately this includes the Navy and its anti-terrorist, submarine protection program.

For about fifty years the Navy has been training dolphins, sea lions and beluga whales to do a variety of undersea jobs. Dolphins are arguably the most intelligent and have the most reliable sonar. They therefore, do most of the work, but the little whales can dive deeper than either dolphins or sea lions. The latter can carry objects better than dolphins or whales so the sea lions are best for specialized jobs.

In 1965 Tuffy, the first dolphin to go into action was a messenger for Sea Lab II off the California coast. This little fellow took supplies down 200 feet to men living under water for prolonged periods. During the Vietnam War dolphins protected Navy ships riding at anchor in Cam Ranh Bay by patrolling shallow waters while looking for scuba swimmers.

Dolphins and sea lions can dive to depths of 600 feet and were trained in the 1970s to locate various Navy ordnance which had fallen into the sea. They carried small marker buoys and when an object of interest was found the animals dropped a small anchor which released a tethered buoy.

During the 1980s the dolphin training program expanded dramatically and took on the task of locating abandoned mines. They were taught never to approach a mine, but to surface and signal the attending boat of its location. In 1988 the dolphins were brought to Bangor, Washington to help protect the Trident submarines at rest in the confined waters of the Hood Canal on which the submarine base resides. The good ladies at Seattle quickly sniffed this out and filed suit against the Navy claiming that it had not conducted sufficient study as required under the National Environmental Protection Act. The court ruled in their favor, saying that since the dolphins had been captured in the Gulf of Mexico, and since the temperatures at that latitude were temperate, the Navy needed to clearly demonstrate that the dolphins would not be adversely affected by their introduction into the relatively cold temperature of the Hood Canal.

Rather than go up against the ladies in Seattle and the inevitable bad press, the Navy simply abandoned the idea of having dolphins at Subase Bangor. The issue died as a result and the Seattle ladies were forced to find other fields of battle for their zeal in saving animals from the grips of mankind.

With the end of the Cold War it was initially thought that the need for trained dolphins would diminish, but after the World Trade Center disaster it was apparent that the Navy had a far greater threat on its hands than the Soviet Union. It revitalized the dolphin training program and once again looked at the vulnerability of Subase, Bangor to undersea terrorism.

And this brings us to the Sweaters for Dolphins gimmick. These cunning ladies (and a few grinning gentlemen, too) use this ploy to keep their issue in the news. The sarcastic effort is intended to point up the dolphins' intolerance to cold water. Inside the gates of Subase, Bangor, the lid has been clamped shut on any dolphin discussion. Whatever use the Navy might make of these sea mammals is far from public view. It intends to keep a low profile until the animal rights people find another project.

The crux of the conflict lies with the adaptability (or lack thereof) of a dolphin to Puget Sound water temperature. Can dolphins live in these temperatures or is the Navy subjecting them to unreasonable demands? Several factors apply such as how long the animal is in water of a lower temperature and how thorough is the training to introduce the animals to lower temperatures. Sea water temperature decreases in direct proportion to depth. The oceans' warmer temperatures flow relatively close to the surface. At somewhere around 600 feet the world's ocean temperatures are consistently at about four degrees centigrade. In searching for food Dolphins routinely dive to this depth and it must therefore be concluded that they are able to tolerate low temperature environments for short periods. The concept is akin to a human being tolerating low air temperatures for short durations. But rather than stand toe-to-toe with the animal rights advocates arguing the finer points of oceanography it is probably best to simply ignore them and remain mute. That is why the Navy is subjected to unfounded insults and why it has no comment on the Seattle ladies' knitting habits.

Lastly, it must be pointed out that in all the ruckus, the civilians don't bother to balance the safety of submariners against the possible temporary discomfort of the Navy's dolphins.