New-York tribune., 1921-05-12
War Chemists and Flyers
With Tear Gas to At
tack Fleet ON June 2l:
Sailors TO Wear Masks
Urge Alright Craft
To Meet New Peril
Deadly Sea Dust Screen
and Air Smoke Barrage
Also May BE Tried Out

WASHINGTON, May II (By The AS
soclated Pre8s) The use of poisonous
gas against naval vessels under simu-
lated battle conditions will be tested
Tor the first time during bombing ex-
periments to be conducted off the At
iantic coast beginning june 21. While
army and naval aerial forces are CO.
operating in an effort to demonstrate
the effectiveness of aerial bombs
against modern naval vessels, the chem
lcal 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
new and terrible menace-aspbvxis-
ton.
Ship to Garry Crew
Under present plans the shin to he
gassed Will have crew aboard. Non
explosive bombs filled with "tear gas,,
will be dropped and every man On board
the vessel will be required to keen
within the protected areas and wear =
gas mask
ofhcers OF the chemical warfare serv-
ice oelieve that by using "a gas of in
soiefabie concentration, that is of suf
ncient strength to incapacitate but not
TO XIII, the service can prove its con-
tention that in the next war battle
ships must be made literally airtieht
to protect the crews.
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 to protect American
sailors in the next war. AS result
OF these experiments important
changes may be made in the design of
new ships ana of some already under
construction, but not yet far advanced.
Intolerable TO Eyes
The tear gas" which the Chemical
Warfare Service proposes to use in the
coming tests is known to chemists as
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. The mixture is in
toiera6ie to the eyes, but is not danger
GUS. The significance of its effect on
the battleship personnel, army officers
assert, will lie in the fact that it is of
concentration and persistency ex-
actiy similar to the instantly fatal
gases which the Chemical Warfare
Service is prepared to use against q
hostile navy in time of war
1t was pointed out to-day by army
officers that the ventilating system OF
all warships was based on a suction
system drawing air through tubes to
every part Of the vessel. This system,
they declared, would be the chief ally
OF an enemy gas attack, sucking into
every nook and corner of the vessel
the deadly gases introduced into the
ship by deck-piercing shells dropped
from aircraft. Gases already prepared
and in stock are of such deadly mix
ture, the officers declare, that one Whit
will kill almost instantly.
Toxic Smoke Screen
The Chemical Warfare Service has
also developed, it was learned. anothe,
deadly weapon to be used in naval wa r.
fare in the future. 1t is a "toxit
smoke" called diphenylchlorarsine II
is designed to be used in place of the
smoke screen heretofore laid down by
destroyers to shield the main feet
from the enemy.
This "toxic smoke" consists of dense
poisonous dust clouds designed to be
liberated on the surface of the sea
through bombs and smoke boxes placed
to windward of the enemy force.p The
poison dust will be drawn into the
ventilating systems of the hostile ships
LIie Objects assert, with particularly
deadly effect. 1t has not been decided
whether the "toxic smoke" principle
using non-deadly ingredients, will alst
be given a trial during the coming
tests.
A third innovation the chemical war.
fare service is working on is the de-
velopment of system of placing a
smoke screen over a feet by the use
OF smoke bombs attached to parachutes
and dropped from aircraft or similar
bombs fired into the air from guns
on the vessels. A smoke or gas is
being developed for this use that will
hover in the air two or three hundred
feet above the ships.
Fear Poison Menace Most
Naval officers admit that they are
concerned over the application of chem
lea science to war on the sea. At the
annual Chemical Warfare Service din,
ner held here recently Rear Admira
| w. S. Smith, in charge of patents ant
inventions at the Navy Department
declared that the navy was not nearly
so concerned over the prospect of be
ing "biown out of the water" by aeria
I bombs as it was over the development
of poison gases, as an offensive weapor
against sea craft.
| II "a yKyW