The USS Arizona's Oil Leak-- Part 3: "The Black Tears of the Arizona"

Some historians have called the leaking oil "The Black Tears of the Arizona." and the NPS says that oil has a moving effect on the some 1.7 million visitors each year to the memorial.

When they see the oil float to the top of the water they are smelling  and seeing history.  It is like a time machine taking you back to that date, December 7, 1941.

A lot of oil is trapped  in then hull or fuel tanks that are  lodged deep into the muddy water of the harbor floor, making fuel removal expensive and difficult.  "We don't know if the oil is creating pressure in the tanks that's helping the structural integrity of the ship," said the National Park Service's (NPS) Bojakowski.

Removing the oil could disturb artifacts, the bodies aboard the ship or the urns of survivors now interned aboard her.    Other battleships that were sunk or seriously damaged in the attack have been removed.  The USS Arizona and USS Utah were so badly damaged it was decided to leave them where they were.  Parts of the ships were salvaged (including the guns) and in the 1960s, several tons of the Arizona were cut away.

There is a film segment with the article showing the "Black Tears of the Arizona" as well as a picture of a seahorse on the ship.

--GreGen