US Ship Heads Out to Destroy Syria’s Chemical Weapons

Local Editor

A specially-equipped US naval ship departed for Italy on Monday on a ground-breaking mission to destroy Syria's chemical agents, Pentagon officials said.

After setting off from the port of Norfolk on the Virginia coast at 7:30 pm EST, the MV Cape Ray is due to arrive in the southern port of Gioia Tauro in about "two to three weeks," spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.
The 650-foot cargo ship has been outfitted with two large portable hydrolysis systems designed to neutralize lethal chemical agents in Syria's arsenal.

US War Secretary Chuck Hagel sent a letter to Captain Rick Jordan and the 135-member crew telling them they were embarking on a "historic mission."
"You are about to accomplish something no one has tried," Hagel wrote in the letter released by the War Department.
He further wrote: "You will be destroying at sea one of the world's largest stockpiles of chemical weapons and helping make a safer world."

The Cape Ray was initially supposed to head out earlier on Monday but engine problems delayed the scheduled departure, officials said.
The ship has a crew of 35 civilians operating the vessel and will have a 63-member team in charge of the hydrolysis units as well as a security force on board.
The hydrolysis machines will mix heated water and other chemicals to break down the lethal agents, resulting in a sludge equivalent to industrial toxic waste.
Last year, the UN Security Council last year backed a deal to remove and destroy Syria's chemical weapons.

Under the accord, Syria's entire chemical arsenal is to be eliminated by June 30.
The chemicals will be loaded on to the Cape Ray at the Italian port and then taken to an undisclosed location for destruction. The Pentagon stressed the ship's work was not an environmental cause for alarm.
"No hydrolysis byproducts will be released into the sea or air. M/V Cape Ray will comply with all applicable international laws, regulations, and treaties," a spokesman said.

The destruction of the chemicals could take between 45 to 90 days, according to the Pentagon.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team