Operation Red Hat - Removal

Removal

The United States Army leased 41 acres (170,000 m2) on Johnston Atoll. The initial phase of Operation Red Hat involved the movement of chemical munitions from the Chibana Army Depot storage sites on Okinawa to Tengan Pier, eight miles away, and required 1332 trailers in 148 convoys. The second phase of the removal operation transferred the munitions to Johnston Atoll by ship.

Phase I of the operation took place in January and moved distilled mustard (HD), a blister agent, manufactured by either the Levinstein or Thiodiglycol processes, but purified further so that it could be stored longer before polymerizing. The USNS Lt. James E. Robinson (T-AK-274) arrived at Johnston Atoll with the first load of HD projectiles from Okinawa on January 13, 1971. Phase II completed the cargo discharge from Tengan Pier in Okinawa to Johnston Atoll with five more moves of the remaining 12,500 tons of the chemical munitions nerve agents including Sarin and suspected agent VX, arriving in August and September 1971 in the following order:

• USNS Lt. James E. Robinson (T-AK-274)
• USNS Sea Lift (T-LSV-9)
• USNS Private Francis X. McGraw (T-AK-241)
• USNS Sgt. Andrew Miller (T-AK-242)
• USNS Sea Lift
• USNS Private Francis X. McGraw

The ocean shipping parts of the Red Hat operation, were dubbed "Kalama Express" and were overseen by the U.S. Army's Technical Escort Unit (TEU), also known as the Technical Service Unit (TSU) who trained members of the 267th Chemical Company on handling and storing the munitions on the Atoll. An Air Force Special Airborne Medical Care Unit (SAMCU), supported Operation Red Hat as well as a Navy diving team, Harbor Clearing Unit One (HCU-1) from the USS Grapple. In late June, assistance was requested in conjunction with Operation RED HAT in Okinawa. HCU-1 departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for Okinawa July 6, 1971, in support of Operation Red Hat. The team of HCU-1 divers and all necessary equipment including compressors and hard hat diving rigs was air shipped to Okinawa. For the next two months HCU-1 personnel in conjunction with EOD personnel were on continuous standby should their services be required in the event any of the dangerous chemicals being shipped were lost. By mid-September operations were complete and the dive team returned to Pearl Harbor on September 15, 1971.

During the loading of the USNS Sea Lift in August 1971, one pallet of 15 M55 chemical agent-filled rockets was accidentally dropped approximately 40 feet into the hold of the vessel from a crane. Although subsequent examination showed that some of the rockets had been severely damaged, no spill occurred, and there was no harm to operators or the general public.

Completion of cargo discharge from the USNS McGraw at Johnston Island on September 21, 1971 completed the movement phase of Operation Red Hat, and the 276th completed redeployment to Johnston Atoll on Sept. 27, 1971.