] 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 fucked, 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)." NEWS.com.au | US Navy's 'Flipper' goes AWOL |