The Shark-pedoes of the US Navy

The US Navy Marine Mammal Program, or NMMP, has been in existence since the 1950s, since marine creatures have proven to be very eager and effective in providing support to Navy forces, particularly in mine detection and object recovery. The project's indisputable stars are the bottle-nose dolphin and the California sea lion. They are currently the only creatures still utilized in the program, but in its early years, the NMMP tested with hundreds of marine animal species to determine which ones were best suited for a future in the Navy. Sharks were included.

Their plan was to convert sharks into torpedoes by strapping bombs to them and then using electrical signals to guide them to their targets. This proposal, known as Project Headgear, was explored during the Cold War but had to be canceled before it could be implemented. The sharks appear to have simply refused to obey directions, and none of them finished their route during trial runs.

Date: 1950