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

The USS Arizona's Oil Leak-- Part 2: More Than 900 Still Aboard the Ship

Oil is also leaking from the sunken battleship USS Utah, but neither the Navy or NPS know how much is leaking each day or how much has leaked since the attack or how much is left in the ship.

"People talk about how beautiful  it is to see the oil glisten on top of the water and how much it reminds them of the lives lost," says Maxx Phillips,  an environmental attorney.  "All it does to me is to think about the lives lost after the fact, everything from bacteria all the way up the food chain to our sharks are endangered animals living in that toxicity."

Regardless, today, there is coral growing on the Arizona as well as sea horses on it and sea turtles swimming around it.  A young hammerhead shark and black-tipped reef shark also make it home.

The oil could have been removed, but the USS Arizona isn't just another ship.  It is an active military grave. More than 900 of the 1,177 servicemen who died aboard the Arizona are still aboard it.  Additionally, 40 crew members who survived the attack now have urns with their ashes buried aboard the ship.

--GreGen

The USS Arizona's Oil Leak: Is It an Environmental Concern?-- Part 1: 14,000 to 64,00 Gallons of Oil

From the February 24, 2020, Honolulu Civil Beat "Oil constantly leaks from the USS Arizona.   Is that an environmental problem? by Claire Caulfield.

An audio tour of Pearl Harbor narrated by actress Jaime Lee Curtis, instructs visitors to the USS Arizona Memorial not to throw coins into the water around the shipwreck because they harm the environment.

But nothing is said about the estimated half gallon of oil that leaks out of the ship every day.

A federal report says this oil is particularly toxic and there is concern for marine life in the harbor.  But, even so, there are no plans to stop the leak.

During the December 7, 1941, attack, all eight battleships in the harbor were hit by torpedoes and bombs, spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the harbor.  The Arizona had just been topped off with bunker oil the day before and burned for two days afterwards.

It is believed that between 14,000 and 64,000 gallons of oil have leaked out of the USS Arizona since the attack and the NPS estimates it could continue to leak for another 500 years.

--GreGen