Weteye bomb The Weteye bomb was a U . S . chemical weapon designed for the U . S . Navy and meant to deliver the nerve agent sarin . The Weteye held of liquid sarin and was officially known as the Mk 116 ( Mark 116 ) . Stockpiles of Weteyes were transferred to Utah in the 1980s amidst controversy and protest . History . The Weteye bomb was developed for the United States Navy during the early 1960s . The US Navy at China Lake , California attempted to develop a massive chemical bomb with a high fill efficiency ( ~ 70 % ) . At the same time the US Army Chemical Center worked with the EDO corporation to develop the EX 38 , a chemical bomb with unique design features : 1 ) thin seamless hydrospun aluminum body , 2 ) weighted nose , 3 ) large plastic fins , and 4 ) a system of internal baffles to keep the 10 % minimum void captured in the tail section of the bomb . The prototype Weteye design , with its shaped internal burster and folding fins , was combined with the EX38 design features to create the production model of the Weteye . The Weteye was originally developed for delivery of GB and VX nerve agents . Production was limited to filling with double - distilled GB . The VX variants were not produced . During the Gulf War ( Operation Desert Storm ) there was consideration of repurposing the Weteye design to deliver firefighting chemicals to extinguish oil well fires set by retreating Iraqi forces . In 1963 , the supercarrier USS " John F . Kennedy " ( CV - 67 ) ( SBC - 127C ) was intended to contain 100 Weteyes as part of its magazine load . In 1969 the entire arsenal of US Weteye bombs were stored at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Colorado . Most Weteye bombs stored at Rocky Mountain Arsenal were demilitarized and destroyed in 1977 ; however , approximately 900 Weteye bombs were not destroyed at this time . Specifications . The interior of the Weteye was divided into three sections . The Weteye body was composed of thin aluminum alloy . It had fins which deployed after the bomb was released . The 240 kilogram Weteye held about of liquid sarin nerve agent . Nomenclature . Officially , the Weteye was known as the Mark 116 , or Mk - 116 bomb . While this was the official military nomenclature for the weapon , early in its production it acquired the nickname " Weteye " . Weteye was derived from the fact that the weapon was filled with a liquid nerve agent , sarin , thus the " wet " portion of the name . The " eye " portion of the name was associated with it being developed by the US Navy at China Lake as part of its eye - series weapon program ( bombs guided by the " Mark 1 eyeball " ) , a program intended to improve air - delivered munitions . Transfer to Utah . Demilitarization operations at Rocky Mountain Arsenal left exactly 888 Weteye bombs intact and in storage in Colorado . In 1981 the U . S . Department of Defense sought to relocate the weapons to the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility at the Deseret Chemical Depot . This move was opposed by many residents of Utah and the state ' s governor at the time Scott M . Matheson . The transfer was controversial and Matheson continued to fight it until the U . S . Senate passed a bill which included an amendment sponsored by then - U . S . Senator Gary Hart ( D - CO ) requiring the weapons be moved out of Colorado . Matheson ' s concern stemmed from the fact that some of the thin - shelled Weteyes stored in Colorado were leaking nerve agent . After rounds of protests and legal action that went to the U . S . District Court the transfer went ahead . An Air Force C - 141 jet carried the initial transfer of 64 Weteye bombs on August 12 , 1981 to an air field at Dugway Proving Ground . The event was heavily covered by the media . The moves continued for the next three weeks and Weteyes were moved to the south area of the Tooele Army Depot , which became known as the Deseret Chemical Depot . In 1996 , the Deseret Chemical Depot began destruction operations of general chemical weapons . In the spring of 2001 destruction and demilitarization of the Weteyes began and the operation ended in December 2001 with the destruction of the last of 888 Weteyes . Disposal and transfer issues . Public relations officials for the Deseret Chemical Depot asserted at the time that during the 2001 disposal operations there were " no problems " . However , Eric Croddy reported in his 2005 book " Weapons of Mass Destruction : An Encyclopedia of Worldwide Policy , Technology , and History " that a number of issues came up during the destruction operations . One of those issues , that of leaking munitions , was an issue long before the weapons arrived at Deseret and the primary reason that Gov . Matheson and many Utah residents were opposed to the weapons transfer in the first place . Other issues to surface during disposal operations were high levels of mercury contamination and the tendency of the aluminum casing to explode inside the decontamination furnace . Molten aluminum and water presents a potential explosion hazard and because the Weteye contained a liquid nerve agent the potential for an interaction of molten aluminum and the liquid agent existed . These issues combined to make the Weteye sufficiently difficult to dispose of that it required special handling .