4 replies to this topic

[EcoGraphic]

Yikes!

DECADES OF DUMPING CHEMICAL ARMS LEAVE A RISKY LEGACY
SPECIAL REPORT, PART 1: The Deadliness Below
Weapons of mass destruction thrown into the sea years ago present danger now - and the Army doesn't know where they all are.

BY JOHN M.R. BULL
247-4768
October 30, 2005
In the summer of 2004, a clam-dredging operation off New Jersey pulled up an old artillery shell.

The long-submerged World War I-era explosive was filled with a black tarlike substance.

Bomb disposal technicians from Dover Air Force Base, Del., were brought in to dismantle it. Three of them were injured - one hospitalized with large pus-filled blisters on an arm and hand.

The shell was filled with mustard gas in solid form.

What was long feared by the few military officials in the know had come to pass: Chemical weapons that the Army dumped at sea decades ago finally ended up on shore in the United States. Read Full News Article

There are a couple of maps showing the extent of the dumping world-wide. What a nightmare........

Gillian

[Hans van der Maarel]

There's still a lot of grenades filled with musterd gas off the Belgian coast, where they were dumped right after WW1. There's also still bombs and other kinds of ammunition from both World Wars found on a fairly regular basis. Just the week before I flew out to NACIS, one of the runways at Schiphol Airport had to be closed because a WW2 British 500-pound bomb was found very close to it.

Same goes for all areas where there have been wars in the past century or so...

[Kartograph]

The day before yesterday 15.000 people had to be evacuated near my place, because of a british bomb. If I lived one block closer, I´d have to be evacuated too. Traffic was a real mess.
Wars suck.
Don´t start one if you mind being bombed...

[DaveB]

It's not just warzones. Military all around the world have left unexploded ordnance where they practice for war.
Even up to the gates of Mordor.

[ELeFevre]

On a somewhat (slightly stretched) related note, read Gary Kinder's incredible book "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea". This book contains some great historical info and insight into the technical aspects, along with the major blunders and political follies associated with recovering weapons from deep water during the 20th century...Of course weapon recovery is only a small part of the overal story, but it is fascinating, and it does shed some light on the catalysts that drive governments to clean up their war junk.