Arizona republican., 1921-05-12
DEADLY POISONOUS
 GASES TO BE TRIED ' IN NAVAL WARFARE
ARMY AND NAVY AERIAL FORCES WILL DEMONSTRATE POWER OF POISON GAS AGAINST MODERN NAVAL FIGHTING MACHINES
IRepublican A. p. Leased wirel

WASHINGTON, May 1.-The use or poisonous gases against naval yes seis under simulated battle condi- tions will be tested for the first time during bombing experiments to be conducted off the Atlantic coast be- ginning June 21. While army and navy aerial forces are cooperating In an effort to demonstrate the es- fectiveness of aerial bombs against modern naval vessels, the chemical warfare service of the army will be launching poison gas attack from the air against one or more warships in an attempt to show that the navy must immediately build up defenses against asphyxiatioll
 The ship to be gassed is to have a crew. Non-explosive bombs filled with tear gas" will be dropped and every man on the vessel will be re- quired to keep within the protected areas and wear a gas mask.
 Officers of the chemical warfare service believe that by using a gas of sufficient strength to incapacitate but not to kill the service can prove it's contention that in the next war battleships must be made literally air tight.
 The chemical warfare service and the war department are cooperating in conducting experiments in the use of toxic gases at sea and in building up adequate defenses for American sailors. As result, important changes may be made in the design of new ships and of some under con- struction. The tear" gas is known to chemists as brombenzylcyanide The mixture is intolerable to the eyes 7lbut is not dangerous. Army officers i+ af a inn and persistency similar to the instantly fatal gases which the chemical war; fare service is prepared to use against hostile navy in time of war
 One Whiff Instant Death
 Army officers said that the ven- tilating system of all warships was based on a suction system. This sys- tenn. they declared, would be the chief ally of an enemy gas attack, sucking into all parts Of the vessel the deadly gases introduced into the ship by deck piercing shells dropped from aircrafts. Gases in stock are Of such deadly mixtures. they de- clare, that one wh1ff will kill in stant1y.
 The chemical warrare service has also developed, it Was learned, an other deadly weapon to be used in naval warfare. It is a toxic smoke called dipthenylehlorine. It is de signed to be used in place of the smoke screen.
 This toxic smoke" consists of dense poisonous dust clouds designed to be liberated on the sea through bombs and smoke boxes placed in the windward of the enemy. The poison dust will be drawn into the ventilat- ing systems of the hostile ships, of ficers assert, with particularly deadly effect.
 The chemical warfare service also ia working on the development or a system of placing smoke screen over a fleet by the use of smoke bombs attached to parachutes and dropped from aircraft or similar bombs fired from guns on the yes sels A smoke or gas Is being de veloped for this use.
 Naval officers admit they are con- cerned over the application of chem ical science to war on the sea. Al the annual chemical warfare service dinner recently, Rear Admiral " Smith. in charge of patents and in yentions at the navy department, de- p ciared that the navy was not nearls so concerned over the prospect of be- ing "blown out of the water' by aerial bombs as it was over the de velopment of poison gases as an of- fensive weapon.
 Foreign Powers Busy
 A study of the subject Is peins made at the navy department Maya officers are particularly interested II a report this week that all the de stroyers of one of the great power! have been provided with two boxes
 fContinued on page 9