Archaeology Magazine’s Samir Patel investigates the status of the wreck of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor. I didn’t know this about its fuel tanks:
National Park Service/eTrac ROV via Archaeology.org
“What we learned is that, yes, Arizona is corroding. Yes, Arizona is rusting. And yes, Arizona is changing,” says Conlin, “but it’s changing very, very slowly, and the best science that we have tells us that Arizona will still have significant structural integrity for at least another 150 years.” The risk of a catastrophic spill is low, he adds. Battleships don’t hold oil in a single tank, but in hundreds of cells. A recent SRC study found that, of the several places where oil emerges from the wreck, only one appears to be closely connected to a fuel storage area. The rest of the leaking oil follows a circuitous path through interior spaces, which suggests that it is distributed around the ship. Furthermore, it is thought that the oil inside inhibits the degradation of the metal and provides a buoyant force for its structure. And there’s no way to remove the oil without deeply impacting or damaging a war grave. “We are getting smarter about how we can understand Arizona,” Conlin says, “and also how we can manage Arizona.”
USS Arizona Memorial. Source: National Park Service
I wonder if that applies to other types of ships sunk during World War II – and since then. However, wrecks may contain other potential disastrous materials, as noted here.
