Fishermen who got sick were hit with military mustard gas!

[Bill Mattocks]

This is a very not good thing...

http://www.military.com/news/article/mysterious-ocean-catch-was-mustard-gas.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS

Mysterious Ocean Catch was Mustard Gas

June 09, 2010
Associated Press

BOSTON -- State and federal officials worked Tuesday to decontaminate a clam boat anchored in isolation off Massachusetts after it dredged up old munitions laced with mustard gas, severely sickening a crewman.
The Coast Guard was trying to locate the two military shells, which the crew tossed overboard in about 60 feet of water about 45 miles south of Long Island, said Coast Guard Petty Officer James Rhodes. He acknowledged finding the shells will be difficult.
The military used the ocean as a dumping ground for munitions from after World War II through 1970. While the tons of old chemical weapons beneath U.S. waters present a danger to fishermen, experts don't believe they are a possible source of weapons for terrorists.

I especially don't care for this statement:

The Defense Department began using the ocean as a dumping ground for chemical and conventional munitions after World War II. The military says it stopped in 1970, and two years later Congress banned waste disposal in oceans, including chemical weapons.
Officials say it's impossible to know exactly how much and what type of weapons have been dumped in the ocean because of incomplete records.

 

[MBuzzy]

Nothing new here....IF you knew how many WWII era and older munitions washed up on the East Coast every year, you would be SHOCKED. Not too long ago there was an incided at an East Coast base where the local EOD Flight responded to a munition and it turned out to be a WWI era Mustard munition and contaminated about 4 airmen.

 

[Carol]

And what happens to the shellfish that live on the bottom......

Hey Bill, want some lobster? All of the sudden, I'm not hungry...

 

[FieldDiscipline]

I seem to recall reading that the US sunk ships packed with chemical and biological munitions off the coast to get rid of them.

 

[Bruno@MT]

Nothing new here....IF you knew how many WWII era and older munitions washed up on the East Coast every year, you would be SHOCKED. Not too long ago there was an incided at an East Coast base where the local EOD Flight responded to a munition and it turned out to be a WWI era Mustard munition and contaminated about 4 airmen.

Try living in Belgium. Every month, farmers still find unexploded drop bombs when plowing their fields, construction workers still find drop bomb during excavation work on construction sites. Literally tens of thousands of unexploded airplane bombs are buried in our soil. And usually they're still live.

It doesn't even make the news anymore unless it was found in a palce where they had to evacuate.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Try living in Belgium. Every month, farmers still find unexploded drop bombs when plowing their fields, construction workers still find drop bomb during excavation work on construction sites. Literally tens of thousands of unexploded airplane bombs are buried in our soil. And usually they're still live.

It doesn't even make the news anymore unless it was found in a palce where they had to evacuate.

Sadly, it just happened in Germany a few days ago:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10212890.stm

World War II bomb kills three in Germany


Three people have been killed and six injured trying to defuse a World War II bomb in central Germany.
Workers building a sports stadium had earlier unearthed the bomb in the town of Goettingen.
It was not immediately clear why the bomb, reportedly weighing 500kg (1,100lb), had detonated.
Unexploded WWII bombs dropped by Allied planes are frequently found in Germany, though it is unusual for them to explode unexpectedly.

 

[knuckleheader]

I wish they would blow most of these bombs up with blast nets and other safety precautions.
It's not worth the risk to defuse most of this old material.

 

[MBuzzy]

I wish they would blow most of these bombs up with blast nets and other safety precautions.
It's not worth the risk to defuse most of this old material.

First off, "defusing" is a last resort....very seldom do "Bomb Squads" or EOD tech actually do what is shown on TV. Things have to be pretty bad for someone to go cut a green wire. Normally render-safe procedures are to either blow-in-place or use a "shot" to separate the explosive from the detonator.....even "mine-sweeping" where we just drag stuff along to try to find things is only really done for IEDs - too high risk other wise.

As for dragging the ocean or scouring the earth for these things...it just isn't feasable. The Ocean is too big and there is no way to track where UXO's landed or where they may be buried. We deal with them when we find them.

 

[David43515]

Apparently Okinawa has it`s share of live artilery shells and bombs that are found each year. And considering the population density it`s pretty scary. Just a couple years ago a 500 lbs bomb blew up taking out all the windows and cracking several walls in a retirement home just a few hundred meters away.