Operation Geranium was a U.S. Army mission that dumped more than 3,000 tons of the

chemical agent A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as a ...

lewisite into the ocean off the Florida coast in 1948.

Operation

Operation Geranium occurred from 15 – 20 December 1948 and involved the dumping of approximately 3,150 tons of stockpiled

lewisite Lewisite (L) (A-243) is an organoarsenic compound. It was once manufactured in the U.S., Japan, Germany and the Soviet Union for use as a Chemical warfare, chemical weapon, acting as a vesicant (blister agent) and lung irritant. Although the substa ...

into the Atlantic Ocean. "Geranium" was so called because lewisite has an odor reminiscent of

geranium ''Geranium'' is a genus of 422 species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants that are commonly known as geraniums or cranesbills. They are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, but mostly in ...

s. The materials dumped consisted of two types of bulk container, 60 were of the M14 variety, and another 3,700 bulk containers were dumped as well. The lewisite was shipped to

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

from the Gulf Chemical Warfare Depot. The lewisite was then loaded aboard a World War II merchant ship, the ''SS Joshua Alexander''. The lewisite was then dumped, at sea, 300 miles off the coast of Florida.Brankowitz, William R.
Summary of Some Chemical Munitions Sea Dumps by the United States
'', Meeting notes, 30 January 1989, p. 38, accessed 7 January 2009.

Dumping

Sea dumping was used by the U.S. Army to dispose of World War II lewisite stocks prior to Geranium. One such dumping operation was reported on by ''The New York Times'' in 1946, 10,000 tons of lewisite was dumped about off the Charleston, South Carolina coast. Before Operation Geranium, however, lewisite dumping was mostly accomplished by simply dropping loose munitions overboard. In this operation, the Army loaded the merchant hulk with the lewisite containers, sailed the vessel out to sea and then scuttled the ship with the munitions aboard.Brankowitz, William R.
Chemical Weapons Movement History Compilation
', p. 9 (p. 13 in PDF), Office of the Program Manager for Chemical Munitions (Demilitarization and Binary) (Provisional), Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, 27 April 1987, accessed 7 January 2009. Most of the 20,000 tons of lewisite produced during World War II by the U.S. was disposed of by dumping at sea. This method of operation and disposal was not used again for some time, though the Army did employ it again.

References

{{U.S. chemical weapons

External links

Map of significant U.S. chemical agent dumps
(Operation Geranium marked at F1)

Geranium ''Geranium'' is a genus of 422 species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants that are commonly known as geraniums or cranesbills. They are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, but mostly in ...

Geraniums ''Pelargonium'' () is a genus of flowering plants that includes about 280 species of perennials, succulents, and shrubs, commonly called geraniums, pelargoniums, or storksbills. '' Geranium'' is also the botanical name and common name of a separ ...

1948 in the United States

Operation

Dumping

See also

References

External links