Some sailors, however, began experiencing health problems that they blame on the tests. They have had trouble proving a connection or receiving disability payments because, in part, of military secrecy. (See accompanying story.)

Tetro, for example, said his service on the Hall is to blame for memory problems, boils, sores and incisions that will not heal, severe headaches and extreme sensitivity to chemicals.

Several others have reported skin cancer they believe might be related to the radiation on the boats, the chemical and germ weapons tested or the chemicals used for decontamination. They are still fighting to find out exactly what was used.

While they fight to ensure they are not forgotten or tossed aside — that is more or less what happened to their old ships.

For example, Tetro's wife, Ruth, found in research that the old Granville S. Hall had been sold as surplus in 1972 to a Japanese company that dissembled it as scrap. "I suppose some of the Japanese cars running around contain parts of it now," she said.

The tug boats attached to the project will soon be up for sale, too. Those last-remaining portions of Dugway's navy are now tied up on a pier at a naval operations center in Stockton, Calif. The warrant officer at the pier said he suspects they will go for scrap, too.

In the 1960s Frank Tetro, right, served on the Granville S. Hall, top which was used in tests of germ and chemical warfare. Crew members took a launch, right to a south Pacific beach for R&R.