Perspective: Oil Seeping from the Sunken USS Arizona at the Memorial 68+ years later

[babylonsister]

http://www.govisithawaii.com/2010/01/18/oil-seeping-from-the-sunken-uss-arizona-memorial/


Oil Seeping from the Sunken USS Arizona at the Memorial

Posted on Mon, Jan 18, 2010 by Sheila



When you visit the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, it’s surprising to see the colorful oil spots hovering on the harbor waters surface. Isn’t it amazing that even though it’s been over 68 years since the USS Arizona was bombed and sunk to its final resting place, oil continues to leak?

According the the official Web site for the USS Arizona Memorial, the battleship held approximately 1.5 million gallons of oil. It isn’t known how much oil was onboard at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. Per the Web site, “Although the exact amount cannot be determined, the USS Arizona contains an estimated 500,000 gallons (liters) of Bunker-C fuel within its hull.” The amount of oil that leaks each day varies and ranges from about one to nine quarts per day per location. At that rate, future generations will be able to see these iridescent reminders of the grave loss that lies beneath.

[Confusious]

1. I'd like to known where they got that number

“Although the exact amount cannot be determined, the USS Arizona contains an estimated 500,000 gallons"

The Arizona, if you remember, was the one that was blown to high heaven, and then burned for a week or more.

[happyslug]

4. Based on US Navy Practice AND how it blow up

The general rule, as to fuel, is when you hit a port, the first thing you do is fuel up, thus it is believed the Arizona was 100% fueled right after it last entered Pearl Harbor. Some of that fuel would have been used since that date AND some burned during the subsequent attack on the ship, but the US Navy had long designed their ships with multiple fuel bunkers so that if any one is hit, the engine can pull fuel from other bunkers. Thus the estimate of how much fuel is still on the Arizona, some of the bunkers were NOT hit when it sank and there is no reason to believe most of it had leaked out.

Second set of reasoning is that the US Park Service do look at the hull from time to time to see how it is holding up. During these "looks" the divers test out the haul and can determine by how the much liquid is in any one part of the ship. With modern computers such sound tests can reveal if it is fuel or salt-water.

My point it is possible to estimate how much fuel in in the Arizona, I do NOT know if the Park Service/Navy has done such research but I can NOT believe such research on the Arizona had NOT been done. I suspect the Park Service and the Navy want to remove the oil before one of the bunkers collapse do to the Salt-Water but they will need support from the Public to do so given that the Arizona will have to be drilled into to remove the oil and as a war memorial some people will make a big deal of such violation of the tomb of the dead sailors still inside the Arizona. Something has to be done and soon, but the Park Service has to get the public behind it before it does so and thus why we hear stories of the oil in the Arizona.

[Subdivisions]

2. I read a post on another forum ealier about how everyone

is over-reacting to the enviromental damage being caused by DWH in the Gulf of Mexico. The person was saying that back during WWII, bunker-c was all over everything, including U.S. beaches and that no one was whining about it at the time. He also said that no one was cleaning up the oil or birds, etc, and that nature cleaned it up within a year after the war.

[piedmont]

3. It probably won't seep that slowly for generations. The hull is rusting very quickly.

When enough of the hull has been oxidized, the tanks will rupture, and most of the remaining fuel will be released very quickly.

[NecklyTyler]

5. Legend has it the oil will continue to leak until the last survivor dies

[TransitJohn]

6. Who the fuck would unrec this?

Fucking cowards....unreccing the memorial to the USS Arizona.

[divvy]

7. Huh? I don't follow your reasoning.

I did not unrec it either. I just missed your point?

[Junkdrawer]

8. Perspective????

How does 1 to 9 quarts a day compare to Deepwater Horizon?

[Libertas1776]

9. +1

my thoughts exactly.

[divvy]

10. Elegantly blurred with a hint of suspicion ....