European Disposal Operations

Dedication

This work is dedicated to -

My Father

Major Harold L. Arison, Jr.

Who died prematurely in 1998 of causes attributable to his exposure to the toxic defoliant agent orange while serving in Vietnam in the late 1960s

and to

My Dear Wife

Wendie B. Arison

For her unfailing faith, inspiration, love, and devotion

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to the many organizations and individuals who have provided me with crucial information for this study. Key agencies which have been most helpful include the:

• U.S. House of Representatives,

• U.S. Library of Congress,

• U.S. State Department's Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, formerly the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA),

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),

• National Archives of the United States,

• Pentagon Library, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD),

• Edgewood Arsenal Historical Office, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland,

• Public Record Office, U.K.,

• Army Historical Branch, U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD),

• Irish Sea Forum,

• NATO Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS),

• Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI),

• Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (NDRE), and the

• German Federal Armed Forces Scientific Institute for NBC Protection Technologies.

I am particularly grateful for the generous support provided by the staff of the former Department of Maritime Studies and International Transport, University of Wales, Cardiff, UK with very special thanks to Dr. Rhoda C. Ballinger, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University.

Table of Contents

Preface

Dedication

Acknowledgements

INTRODUCTION

Prologue

Inception and Scope

Hypothesis, Aim, and Assumptions

Research Methodology

CHAPTER 1 EVOLUTION OF PLANS FOR THE DISPOSITION OF CAPTURED CHEMICAL WEAPONS

1.1 The Allies' Plans

1.2 Chronology of Key Events in the American and British Zones of Occupation and US, UK, Russian and German Sea Disposal Operations

CHAPTER 2 ACCOUNTING OF ALL CAPTURED CHEMICAL WEAPONS

2.1 Chemical Warfare Agents Produced by the Third Reich, 1935-1945

2.2 Characteristics of CW Produced by the Third Reich

2.3 Total CW Tonnage Found on German Territory by the Allies

2.3.1 The American Zone

2.3.2 The British Zone

2.3.3 The Russian Zone

2.3.4 The French Zone

CHAPTER 3 ACCOUNTING OF ALL SEA-DISPOSED CHEMICAL WEAPONS

3.1 Estimated Total Chemical Weapons Disposed in European Waters Post-WWII

3.2 Disposal Operations

3.2.1 United States - Disposal Operations

3.2.2 United Kingdom - Disposal Operations

3.2.3 Russia - Disposal Operations

3.2.4 Germany - Disposal Operations

3.2.5 Additional Ships with Suspected CW Cargoes

CHAPTER 4 LOCATIONS OF THE SCUTTLED SHIPS

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Lists of the Scuttled Ships by Geographic Area

CHAPTER 5 ESTIMATED TOTAL CHEMICAL WARFARE AGENTS DISPOSED IN EUROPEAN WATERS

5.1 Estimates of National Authorities and International Organizations

5.2 Potential Environmental Issues

CHAPTER 6 LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF STATES

6.1 The Evolution of International Policy, Protocols, and Laws

CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION

7.1 The Imperative for an International Strategy

7.2 Proposal and the Way Ahead

Epilogue

APPENDIX A ABBREVIATIONS

APPENDIX B CHEMICAL AGENT CODES

APPENDIX C DETAILED CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS IN THE AMERICAN AND BRITISH ZONES AND US, UK, RUSSIAN, AND GERMAN CW SEA DISPOSAL OPERATIONS

APPENDIX D ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THE SCUTTLED SHIPS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ENDNOTES

INTRODUCTION

One thousandth of all mustard gas dumped - 27,000 kg - has a killing capacity of 5.4 million people.[1]

MAJOR GENERAL BORIS T. SURIKOV AND PROF. DR. EGBERT K. DUURSMA

Dumped Chemical Weapons in the Sea - Options

Prologue

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which opened for signature in January 1993 and entered into force on April 29, 1997, defines Chemical Warfare Agent and Toxic Chemical as: any chemical which through its chemical action on life processes can cause death, temporary incapacitation, or permanent harm to humans or animals. This includes all such chemicals, regardless of their origin or of their method of production, and regardless of whether they are produced in facilities, in munitions, or elsewhere.[2]

Chemical Weapons means the following, together or separately:

(a) Toxic chemicals and their precursors, except where intended for purposes not prohibited under this Convention (CWC), as long as the types and quantities are consistent with such purposes;

(b) Munitions and devices, specifically designed to cause death or other harm through the toxic properties of those toxic chemicals specified in subparagraph (a), which would be released as a result of the employment of such munitions and devices;

(c) Any equipment specifically designed for use directly in connection with the employment of munitions and devices specified in subparagraph (b).[3]

Old Chemical Weapons (OCW), a subset of chemical weapons, are chemical weapons which were produced before 1925 or chemical weapons produced in the period between 1925 and 1946 that have deteriorated to such an extent that they can no longer be used as chemical weapons.[4] There are essentially four general categories of OCW:

1. Abandoned Chemical Weapons (ACW) - Chemical weapons, including old chemical weapons (OCW), abandoned by a State after 1 January 1925 on the territory of another State without the consent of the latter,

2. CW disposed of at sea or on land,

3. Discovered CW, and

4. OCW produced before 1946.[5]

Similar to the multifaceted problems posed by the disposal of nuclear waste, the cost-effective and environmentally safe destruction and disposal of chemical agents and munitions has posed a continuous problem since chemical weapons were first produced. Alternatives have included burning, land burial, or sea disposal. Regardless of the manner in which OCW were disposed, however, the problems related to them have virtually been ignored - and the potential environmental problems they now pose are significant.

Since the end of the First World War, dumping of chemical weapons at sea has taken place and is the subject of considerable concern in a number of international fora. Dumping of these materials has been reportedly carried out in every ocean, with considerable amounts in European bodies of water, principally the Baltic Sea.

Link to Video by the Monterey Institute on the Global Disposal of CW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW76ha24QhA

Link to 1-Page PDF Summary: Dumping Was Carried Out on a Global Scale:

The U.S. Army unloaded its CW stockpiles off the coasts of more than a dozen countries as WWII ended http://www.dailypress.com/media/acrobat/2005-10/20226255.pdf

Global disposal operations will be addressed in detail in the second volume of this research: Global Disposal Operations and Environmental Impact.

Marine dumped chemical munitions react differently in water depending on the agent they contain. The munition shell may break open during the dumping operation or may corrode over time, allowing the agent to leak out. Nerve agents and many other agents hydrolyze, or break down and dissolve once they come into contact with water, and are therefore rendered harmless in a relatively short amount of time. Mustard gas, however, is insoluble in water and most injuries that have occurred when fishermen come into contact with marine dumped chemical munitions have resulted from mustard gas.[6]

The full extent of this dumping will never be known due mainly to inadequate documentation of operations at the time of dumping and the subsequent loss or destruction of records that may have been taken. Remediation of marine chemical weapons dumpsites is technically challenging because of the nature of the material dumped and the uncertainty surrounding the quantities, type, locations, and the present condition or stability of these materials.[7] Exacerbating the problem is the fact that while little is known about the hydrolysis of chemical warfare agents concerned, nothing is known about their interactivity in seawater. Also, while there is a great deal of documentation on the acute effects of chemical warfare agents, very little is known about the delayed effects on human health and the environment.[8]

The history of modern chemical warfare began on April 22, 1915 when German forces attacked French and Canadian troops with chlorine gas at the Battle of Ypres. During World War I, a wide range of new agents was introduced. The discovery of a new class of chemical warfare agents (CWA) - the organophosphorous agents, including tabun (GA), sarin (GB), and soman (GD) - in the late 1930s and 1940s added a new dimension to chemical armament.[9]

Link to Video on the History of CW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RUP3eiAuSw

Chemical weapons were only used in three known military operations during World War II. German forces are reported to have dropped mustard gas bombs on the suburbs of Warsaw, Poland on September 3, 1939. On May 7, 1942, German forces reportedly used chemical mortar bombs in Crimea and in the same month, used poison gas against people sheltering in underground tunnels in the stone quarries of Adzhimushkai near the ancient town of Kerch on the Crimean peninsula. Approximately 10,000 Soviet servicemen and civilians were poisoned and over 3,000 perished in the latter incident alone.[10] The 'Museum of the Heroic Defense of the Adzhimushkai Quarry in 1942', was established and dedicated to those who perished in the attack.

Despite the fact there was no large-scale use of CW during the Second World War, Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States stockpiled massive amounts of these weapons in an arms race that was fueled by the perception that other countries possessed chemical weapons and intended to use them.[11] At the end of World War II, Germany had a large CW stockpile consisting mainly of mustard gas (H), nitrogen mustard (HN), soman (GD), and tabun (GA) and the World War I agents phosgene (CG), chloroacetophenone (CN), adamsite (DM), hydrogen cyanide (AC), and clark (DA/DC). Additional detail is provided in Chapter 2, Accounting of All Captured Chemical Weapons.

In 1945, at the conclusion of the war, the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union set up the Allied Control Commission (ACC) to deal with the problems associated with the discovery, dismantling, and disposal of captured German CW stocks. In addition, there was a need to dispose of the chemical weapons and related equipment that had belonged to the U.K. and the former German allies, such as Hungary and Italy. Dumping at sea was the method of disposal which was chosen, and the environmental consequences of these activities were essentially ignored as the effect on the environment was not considered important at the time. The complexity of the issue was not given adequate consideration and the knowledge obtained from earlier disposal activities in Europe and elsewhere was ignored.[12]

The essence of the potential problem created by the ignorance and carelessness of that era is this: The majority of the CW munitions dumped in European waters were in artillery shells with shell casings that were several centimeters thick. Some agents, such as the nerve gas tabun, will have dissolved in the seawater if they have leaked out of their original casings, but most of the agents are probably still inside the shells or their original casings.[13]

What amount of toxic chemical agents remain? In the National Report of the Russian Federation entitled Complex Analysis of the Hazard Related to the Captured German Chemical Weapons Dumped in the Baltic Sea published in 1993, it is estimated that chemical agents account for 17.1% of the gross weight of the munitions.[14] The January 1994 Report on Chemical Munitions Dumped in the Baltic Sea prepared by the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Dumped Chemical Munition (HELCOM CHEMU) estimates 10-20%[15] In the study The Challenge of Old Chemical Munitions and Toxic Armament Wastes published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in 1997, it is estimated that chemical agents account for 10-25% of the gross weight of the munitions.[16]

Given these estimates and ranges (10-25%), if approximately 754,975 tons (gross weight) of chemical weapons were sea disposed in European waters after WWII, it can therefore be estimated that between 75,497 and 188,744 tons of chemical agents (net weight) were disposed in this geographic area.

Estimates of total chemical agents sea-disposed in European waters post-WWII are addressed in Chapter 5.

The environmental and technical problems which have occurred since the end of World War II have demonstrated the risks that old chemical munitions pose to people and the environment. Many countries must cope constantly with newly discovered chemical weapons and conventional munitions from World War I (Belgium, France, Germany, and the U.K. are particularly affected). In many European countries, old CW munitions in the soil and water, and the contamination created by them, have been described as 'chemical time bombs'.[17]

The changed political climate in Europe at the end of the 1980s and the current interest of most European states and the European Union in environmental policy has led to the realization that there is a need for greater cooperation on environmental matters. Nevertheless, the destruction of chemical weapons does not appear to be a top priority for most European states. Moreover, because most of the information concerning the sea disposal of chemical munitions was classified, a knowledge base is virtually nonexistent. Access to reliable data on the number and location of sea disposal sites, and the quantities and types of munitions disposed have heretofore been restricted. This led to the publication of a number of speculative and sensational journal articles in the early 1990s such as Dumps of Death[18] and Scandinavia's Underwater Time Bomb.[19]

Inception and Scope

In May 1993, while serving as Military Legislative Assistant on the personal staff of then U.S. Congressman Dave McCurdy, U.S. House of Representatives, I fortuitously had the responsibility of reviewing the April 1993 Interim Survey and Analysis Report on the Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Program published by the U.S. Army's Program Manager for Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel, U.S. Army Chemical Materiel Destruction Agency. In paragraph 2.5 of that report, Sea Disposal Survey, it was disclosed:

"The Army has been informed of a survey being conducted for the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA)[20] concerning chemical weapons that were disposed of by sea burial. Coordination has been made with ACDA to receive the results of its survey. Besides the sea disposal programs carried out by the United States and other nations in the late 1960s, Allied Forces were responsible for the disposal of 250,000 tons of German chemical munitions (total weight) by sea burial in 1945."[21]

Both intrigued and alarmed about this disclosure, a copy of the 19 January 1993 Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) report entitled Special Study on the Sea Disposal of Chemical Munitions (hereafter referred to as the ACDA Study) was subsequently obtained through the ACDA Office of Congressional Affairs. Whereas the report was revealing, it was also disappointing in its accuracy and scope. To date, a thorough study has not yet been made of the effect these thousands of tons of chemical agents will have on the environment and public health when they eventually enter the water and the sediment of the water bodies in question.[22]

Principally because most of the historical documentation pertaining to the sea disposal of chemical weapons during and after World War II had been classified by the governments of the principal dumpers (the U.S., U.K., and U.S.S.R.) as FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY, CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET, or TOP SECRET, the subject has seldom, if ever, been addressed in academic texts. Minor footnote references to sea-disposed chemical munitions did appear in the early 1970s in the SIPRI study The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare - but the authors relied heavily on literature sources. It was not until declassified official documents started to become accessible in the Public Record Office (PRO), U.K., and reports such as the ACDA Study were published in the early 1990s that public awareness was heightened.

Given the unique marine pollution problems posed by the sea disposal of chemical weapons, the challenge presented at the outset of this study was to refine the study's scope. It was reasoned that by selecting a specific timeframe and geographic area, sufficient academic and scientific rigor could be applied to enable the postulation of an achievable solution benefiting all States concerned.

The timeframe selected begins on September 12, 1944 with The London Protocol - a TOP SECRET agreement reached among the U.S, U.K. and U.S.S.R. regarding the exercise of total control over Germany. Germany was to be divided into three occupation zones and Berlin into three sectors. Overall control would be exercised by an Allied Control Commission (ACC) composed of three Commanders-in-Chief.

It was initially envisioned the timeframe would end on December 8, 1949 with the 32nd and final meeting of the Control Commission for Germany (British Element) [CCG(BE)][23] Zonal Demilitarization Committee. This was the final meeting of the last remaining committee established to handle, inter alia, the disposition of captured German chemical weapons. Research has shown, however, that large stocks of CW considered excess to national needs were likely sea disposed as late as 1990, a subject which will be addressed in detail in Chapter 3, Accounting of All Sea-Disposed Chemical Weapons. For this reason, the ending timeframe extends until the last known CW stockpiles were sea disposed.

Note that in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), any State that disposes of chemical weapons at sea after January 1,1985 must officially declare such dumping to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Legal responsibilities of States will be discussed in Chapter 6.

Overview of the CWC: http://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention/about-the-convention/

The geographic area selected includes all major European bodies of water in which CW dumping is known to have occurred during the selected timeframe:

• The Baltic Sea,

• The Skagerrak and Kattegat,

• The North Sea,

• The Norwegian Sea,

• The Atlantic Ocean,

• The Bay of Biscay, and

• The Mediterranean Sea.

Figure 1

Map of Europe

The Selected Geographic Area for the Study

Click Here for High Resolution Image

Records also indicate that over one million tons of conventional munitions - plus some reported excess CW stocks - were also dumped in Beaufort's Dyke in the Irish Sea presenting its own set of unique environmental concerns. These areas, and information on CW dumpsites in every ocean, are addressed in Chapter 7, in Recommendations for Future Research.

The Allied Forces - principally the United States, United Kingdom, and Russia - conducted the majority of the dumping. Germany and France conducted sea disposal operations to a much lesser extent.

The 21 nation States now most potentially at risk as a result of the chemical weapons sea-disposed during the selected timeframe include the following:

1. Republic of Albania

2. Kingdom of Belgium

3. Bosnia and Herzegovina

4. Republic of Croatia

5. Kingdom of Denmark

6. Republic of Estonia

7. Republic of Finland

8. French Republic

9. Federal Republic of Germany

10. Hellenic Republic (Greece)

11. Ireland

12. Italian Republic

13. Republic of Latvia

14. Republic of Lithuania

15. Montenegro

16. Kingdom of the Netherlands

17. Kingdom of Norway

18. Republic of Poland

19. Russian Federation (principally Kaliningrad Oblast[24], between Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic Sea)

20. Kingdom of Sweden

21. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Hypothesis, Aim, and Assumptions

Since many of the ~100 hulks laden with CW and scuttled in European waters appear to be intact, the potential problem of toxins leaking into the marine environment is inevitable unless the submerged hulks are completely sarcophaged. The significant amount of CW dumped piecemeal in the Baltic Sea, however, present another challenge. Steps can be taken in the interim, however, by all States involved to ensure warning and disaster preparedness.

The aim of this study is to fill the knowledge void on this highly sensitive subject that has been obfuscated for over half a century.

The fundamental premise of this study is that in the 1940s - when the subject sea disposals occurred - dumping of toxic CW into the ocean was the preferred disposal method and was not an act of malice, malevolence, or ill will. The effect on the environment was simply not considered important at that time. It is therefore not the intent of this book to affix blame or culpability.

Research Methodology

Organizing the complex problem created by the sea disposal of toxic chemical munitions in European waters post-WWII into a form which would enable systematic study was the central task. The methodology employed in this study includes the following three sequential protocols summarized below:

• What chemical weapons were sea disposed, and where?

• What is the nature of the problem caused by the sea disposal, expressed in terms of potential environmental and public health impacts?

• What can be done to solve the problem?

1. Corroboration of the total amount of chemical weapons (CW) disposed in the selected geographic area during the selected timeframe.

In addition to the massive amounts of chemical warfare agents produced by the Third Reich between 1935 and 1945, the total tonnage found on German territory by the