Ocean Dumping of Chemical Weapons
From World War I until the 1970s, dumping of chemical weapons at sea was the accepted practice for disposal. Little documentation of this practice can be found before the mid-1940s. In 1943, mustard (H) was released into the waters of Bari harbor in Italy. Since the end of World War II, ocean dumping has occurred in many areas, including the Baltic Sea, around Japan, in the Adriatic Sea near Bari, and in the coastal waters of the United States. During the period 1945-1948, the US scuttled at sea approximately 32,000 tons of captured German chemical weapons. The British dumped approximately 175,000 tons of chemical weapons at sea, with 100,000 tons coming from Scotland and the balance from the captured German stockpile. During 1955-56, the British dumped a further 17,000 tons of captured German munitions. During 1956-1957, the British disposed of the remainder of their stockpile of chemical weapons, 8,000 tons of World War II vintage mustard and phosgene munitions.1 News reports indicate that the ocean dumping in the 1950s occurred in the Irish Sea; some of the British dumps in the late 1940s may have occurred in the North Sea. The Adriatic, Baltic, and Japanese ocean dumps have provided evidence of the persistence of mustard under water.Bari Harbor and the Adriatic
An American freighter, the S.S. John Harvey, carried 2,000 M47A1 bombs, each containing 60 to 70 pounds of sulfur mustard (H) bombs and an unknown quantity of high explosives when it was attacked during a German raid on Bari, Italy, at 7:30 PM on 2 December 1943. Shortly after 8 PM, a nearby oil tanker blew up, and a few minutes later the John Harvey exploded and sank in Bari Harbor, killing all aboard in the blast.1 One source indicates that subsequent exposure to mustard caused 630 serious military cases and killed over one thousand Italian civilians within a few days.2 A recent U.S. government briefing counts 83 killed and 534 wounded as the toll from mustard during the Bari raid.3 Shortly after the end of World War II, the United States dumped unspecified quantities of phosgene, hydrogen cyanide, and cyanogen chloride bombs in the Adriatic Sea "off the Island of Ischia, near Bari,"* from 12 October to 5 November 1945 and from 1-15 December 1945. Unspecified quantities of mustard and/or Lewisite bombs were dumped at the same site from 1-23 April 1946.3 From 1946 to 1997, medical researchers at the University of Bari detected over 230 cases of exposure to mustard in the Adriatic Sea, most recently in June 1997; most of the cases have been among Apulian trawler fishermen.4 Dr. Sivo and Dr. Lobuono of the University of Bari have kindly provided data from their studies on the continuing exposure of fisherman to mustard.
| *This notation comes from unpublished US government records. There is a relatively well known Island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples, and at this point it is unclear whether (a) there is another Island of Ischia off Bari, (b) the reference to the Island of Ischia is mistaken, or (c) the dumping described in these records took place in the Bay of Naples rather than in the Adriatic and documentation for the Adriatic dumping has not yet been located. |
The Baltic
At the end of World War II, large chemical munitions stores were discovered in Germany and Japan. From 1946-1947, an estimated 50,000-150,000 tons of chemical munitions were dumped in the Baltic Sea. The area of the largest dumping activities was the Bornholm basins, 15 miles northeast of the Danish island of Bornholm.5
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Chemical Weapon Dumping in the Baltic Sea | |||
|
Location |
Munitions Quantity |
Chemical Agent Quantity |
Chemical Agent Type |
| Bornholm basins | 35,300 to 43,399 tons | 5,300 to 6,500 tons | mustard, Clark I, Clark II, Adamsite, chloroacetophenone, phosgene, nitrogen mustards, Tabun |
| Southwest of Bornholm | Up to 15,000 tons | 2,250 tons | unknown |
| Gotland basin | 2,000 tons | 300 tons | unknown |
| Little Belt | 5,000 tons | 750 tons | Tabun, phosgene |
Japan
Chemical weapons were dumped in the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan after World War II.6 This map shows the areas where multiple casualties were caused by chemical weapons dumped in the waters around Japan.
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The United States
A review of documentation of movements of U.S. chemical munitions indicates that the U.S. military dumped chemical warfare agents in U.S. coastal waters prior to 1970.7
 |
|
Agent |
Loaded at |
Destination |
Date |
Munition |
Estimated Quantity |
| Phosgene | New Orleans Port of Entry, Braithwaite, LA San Jacinto Ordnance Depot, Houston, TX |
Gulf of Mexico | May 1946 | Bombs | Less than 1 ton |
| Charleston, SC | Site "Baker" | Aug 1946 | Bombs, Mines, Bulk | Portions of 3 barge loads | |
| Cyanogen Chloride | Edgewood Arsenal, MD | 38É30'N 71É06'W | 2-7 Aug 1964 | Bulk, Projectiles | Less than 1 ton |
| GA | Charleston, SC | Site "Baker" | 8-22 Aug 1946 | Bombs, Mines | Portions of 2 barge loads |
| GB | Colts Neck Naval Pier, Earle, NJ | 39É39'N 70É57'W | 15 Jun 1967 | Bulk, Rockets | 39 tons |
| Colts Neck Naval Pier, Earle, NJ | 39É33'N 71É02'W | 19 Jun 1968 | Bulk, Rockets | 266 tons (total GB and VX) | |
| Sunny Point, NC | 29É21'N 76É0'W | 18 Aug 1970 | Rockets (vaults) | 67 tons | |
| H | Attu and Adak, Alaska | 12 miles off Chichagoff | 1947 | Bulk | Unspecified |
| Charleston, SC | Site "Baker" | Aug-Oct 1946 | Bombs, Projectiles, Mines, Bulk | Over 7 tons | |
| Colts Neck Naval Pier, Earle, NJ | 39É39'N 70É57'W | 15 Jun 1967 | Rockets, Bulk | 3,890 tons | |
| Colts Neck Naval Pier, Earle, NJ | 39É33'N 71É02'W | 7 Aug 1968 | Contaminated water | 2,975 tons | |
| Edgewood Arsenal, MD | 38É30'N 72É10'W | 18 Jun 1962 | Projectiles, Bulk | 3 tons | |
| Edgewood Arsenal, MD | 38É30'N 71É06'W | 6-7 Aug 1964 | Bulk, Projectiles | 65 tons | |
| Naval Mine Depot, Yorktown, VA | Site "Baker" | 21-25 Mar 1946 | Projectiles | 13 tons | |
| New Orleans Port of Entry, Braithwaite, LA | Gulf of Mexico | 1-7 Mar 1946 | Projectiles | 207 tons | |
| NWS Concord, CA | 37É40'N 125É0'W | 8-19 Apr 1958 | Bulk | 9,030 tons | |
| Theodore Naval Magazine, Mobile, AL | Gulf of Mexico | 13 Jul 1946 | Bombs (German) | 7 tons | |
| Nitrogen mustard | Sunny Point, NC | "off South Carolina" | 20-27 Mar 1958 | Bulk | 54 tons |
| NWS Concord, CA | 37É40'N 125É0'W | 25 May 1958 | Bulk | 9 tons | |
| L | Attu and Adak, Alaska | 12 miles off Chichagoff | 1947 | Bulk | Unspecified |
| Charleston, SC | Site "Baker" | Aug-Oct 1946 | Bombs, Bulk, Projectiles, Mines | 1,222 tons | |
| Charleston, SC | "300 miles of Florida" | 15-20 Dec 1948 | Bulk | 3,154 tons | |
| Colts Neck Naval Pier, Earle, NJ | 37É50'N 70É37'W | 13-14 Nov 1957 | Bulk | 41 tons | |
| Edgewood Arsenal, MD | 38É30'N 72É06'W | 6-17 Jun 1960 | Projectiles, Bulk | 2 tons | |
| Edgewood Arsenal, MD | 38É30'N 71É10'W | 11-18 Jun 1962 | Projectiles, Bulk | 1 ton | |
| NWS Concord, CA | 37É40'N 125É0'W | 8-19 Apr 1958 25 May 1958 |
Bulk, Bombs Bulk |
1,257 tons 285 tons | |
| Sunny Point, NC | "off South Carolina" | 20-27 Mar 1958 | Bulk | 1,281 tons | |
| Unspecified | Theodore Naval Magazine, Mobile, AL | Gulf of Mexico | Jan-Feb 1955 | Unspecified | Barges (1 or 2) |
| VX | Colts Neck Naval Pier, Earle, NJ | 39É33'N 71É02'W | 19 Jun 1968 | Bulk, Rockets | 266 tons (total GB and VX) |
Persistence of Mustard Under Water
Accidents due to ocean dumping of chemical weapons have been reported in the Baltic Sea,5,8 the Adriatic,4 and in the Pacific Ocean and Japanese coastal waters.6 Most reports came from fishermen who had inadvertently snared plastic lumps of mustard gas in their nets. When exposed to sea water, mustard forms a thick outer "crust" over a core of mustard which allows the mustard to be brought to the surface where it can injure unsuspecting fishermen. These accidents began occurring shortly after the material was dumped and have continued throughout the intervening years (see figure below).4,6,8 Note that in each location exposure continued through the date of the report (1980 in Japan, 1985 in Denmark) with the most recent reports coming from Italy in 1997.4
Figure prepared using data from references 4, 6, and 8.
Noblis thanks Dr. Sivo and Dr. Lobuono for providing the Bari data.
Noblis thanks Dr. Sivo and Dr. Lobuono for providing the Bari data.
References
- 1. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare. A Study of the Historical Technical Military, Legal, and Political Aspects of CBW and Possible Disarmament Measures. Vol. 1. The Rise of CB Weapons, Humanities Press: New York, 1971, pp. 119 ff., 305
2. Compton, J. A. F., Military Chemical and Biological Agents. Chemical and Toxicological Properties, The Telford Press: Caldwell, NJ, 1988, pp. 11-12. The date of the Bari raid is given incorrectly as 2 July 1943 in this reference (the Allied landings on the Italian mainland only occurred in September 1943).
3. Brankowitz, W. R., personal communication.
4. Sivo, D.; Lobuono, F., personal communication.
5. Theobald, N.; Ruhl, N.-P., Chemical warfare agent munitions in the Baltic Sea, Deutsche Hydrographische Z., 1994, 46, 121-131.
6. Kurata, H., Lessons learned from the destruction of the chemical weapons of the Japanese Imperial Forces, in Chemical Weapons: Destruction and Conversion, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Taylor and Francis: London, 1980, pp. 77-93.
7. Brankowitz, W. R., Chemical Weapons Movement. History Compilation, Office of the Program Manager for Chemical Munitions (Demilitarization and Binary) (Provisional), Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, SAPEO-CDE-IS-87001, 12 June 1987, AD-A193348.
8. Jorgensen, B. S.; Olesen, B.; Berntsen, O., Mustard gas accidents on Bornholm, Ugeskr. Laeger, 1985, 147(28), 2251-2254.
