Naval Dolphin Update

I see that not only are they not Australian dolphins, but the Australian divers working with them are not especially impressed

AUSTRALIAN military divers yesterday questioned the effectiveness of the US Navy's mine-clearing dolphins, revealing one had disappeared for two days.

The polite way to express their scepticism about the mine-clearing skills of the dolphins is to question their reliability and cost-efficiency, but one diver spoke more plainly yesterday.

"Flipper's f----ed, mate," he said.

"The dolphins have had all this amazing publicity but as soon as they put one in the water it shot through. There's a war going on and Flipper goes AWOL (absent without leave)."

I do see though that Tacoma (Takoma?) has returned. I suspect Petty Officer Whitaker is relieved.