Navy-trained Dolphins Find Rare 19th Century Torpedo in Pacific Ocean

A Howell torpedo, a rare relic of 19th century naval weaponry, has been found at the bottom of the ocean by dolphins trained by the U.S. Navy.

The discovery off the coast of San Diego is just as remarkable as the bottlenose dolphins that discovered it.

Only 50 Howell torpedoes were made between 1870 and 1889, and until the dolphins' recent find, only one other example of the 11-foot long, solid brass torpedo was known to still exist. The Howell was a revolutionary piece of technology for its time. The Navy reports that Howells were the first torpedoes that could truly follow a track without leaving behind a noticeable wake. The torpedo's range of 400 yards and speed of 25 knots is primitive by today's standards, but it was revolutionary technology for a time period before electricity was common in homes.

Like several navies around the world, the U.S. Navy operates a marine mammal program. The program makes use of dolphins' sonar-like echolocation abilities as an effective way to detect sea mines. The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program website says dolphins are "uniquely effective at locating sea mines so they can be avoided or removed."

Two of the program's dolphins, Ten and Spetz, found the torpedo.

"Dolphins naturally possess the most sophisticated sonar known to man," Mike Rothe, head of the marine mammal program, told the Los Angeles Times. "We've never found anything like this," says the head of the Navy's marine mammal program. "Never."