# Pearl Harbor **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762 "2003-05-27T13:59:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sparks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@sparks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparks)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762/1 "2003-05-27T13:59:32Z")
Hello Everyone! My name is Sparks and I just registered as a member on SDMB. I’ve been reading Cecil’s column for some time now but decided to registered when I had a question no one could answer for me. My questions is about Pearl Harbor and I was wondering if someone could help me out. My friend just returned from Hawaii and while she was there she visited Pearl Harbor and the U.S.S. Arizona memorial. She came back with photos showing gas floating above and around the water of the U.S.S. Arizona and she states that the gas is from the original attack on Dec. 7, 1941. Is my friend suffering from an over active imagination or is it possible for gas to linger on top of water for 62 years? She also states you can still smell the gas. Is that possible? Any insight you could give me would be greatly appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762/2 "2003-05-27T14:07:42Z")
Not gas, but oil. Oil has been leaking from the USS Arizona ever since it was sunk. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762/3 "2003-05-27T14:15:58Z")
Yep. Oil it is (I’ve seen it, too). And welcome aboard, **sparks**! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762/4 "2003-05-27T14:28:57Z")
To further elaborate: a battleship carried within a massive amount of fuel and lubricants. A lot of the Arizona’s oil went down with her either in tanks that did not rupture, or – since oil is lighter than water – that did not break completely open at top, or that got trapped against the ceilings of various decks. Oil is non-soluble to begin with; immersed heavy oil tends to assume a gelatinous consistency so that it sort of sits there and diffuses only very, VERY slowly. And it takes a surprisingly TINY amount of fuel oil to create a visually and olfactorily detectable slick on sheltered waters such as those at Battleship Row. Depending on surfaceconditions and the particular liquid in question, a visible “sheen” can be as little _one molecule_ thick. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762/5 "2003-05-27T14:34:01Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, **Sparks**! As a couple of other posters have mentioned, your friend is referring to oil that continues to leak – a drop at a time – from the _USS Arizona_, which still lies at the bottom of the harbor. The leak averages about a quart a day, and there is still a lot (the National Park Service estimates about half a million gallons) of oil still in the hulk. For the romantics among us, I have heard the oil drops referred to as the "tears of the _Arizona_, or some such. I have pictures of it from my honeymoon on Oahu. You can see pictures of it [here.](http://krunch.med.yale.edu/~og/hawaii/arizona.html) RR ---
**Author:** ![Parrothead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/59ef9b/32.png) [@Parrothead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parrothead)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762/6 "2003-05-27T14:35:40Z")
Welcome **sparks**! Yep, it’s oil, and it is leaking, slowly, from the tanks on the Arizona. It’s very visible, and there are plaques nearby that explain what you are seeing. There are also a number of bodies of servicemen that were never recovered still on the Arizona, and a number of survivors have chosen to be buried there, with their shipmates. The Arizona memorial is one of the most solemn places i have ever been. The leaking oil lends a certain amount of “Hey, this _really_ happened” to the entire Pearl Harbor experience. ---
**Author:** ![sparks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@sparks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparks)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762/7 "2003-05-27T16:41:23Z")
Wow! What a wealth of information. I really didn’t think it was possible and now I owe my friend an apology. She not as crazy as I thought. I was sure the oil was from other ships around the harbor. Or maybe from the boat that carries everyone back and forth to the memorial. The pictures of the memorial were great. Thanks again everyone. ---
**Author:** ![MSU\_1978](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@MSU\_1978](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MSU_1978)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762/8 "2003-05-27T16:48:43Z")
Does anyone know when the oil will finally stop appearing? 50 years? 100 years? Longer? ---
**Author:** ![MSU\_1978](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@MSU\_1978](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MSU_1978)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762/9 "2003-05-27T16:51:49Z")
I feel like an idiot! 500,000 gallons at 1 quart per day = 2 million days or more than 5400 years! ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762/10 "2003-05-27T17:25:34Z")
That’s assuming the hull remains in its current condition. If it is neglected, it may break apart in places in a few hundred years, in which case a lot of oil will be released at once. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762/11 "2003-05-27T17:41:24Z")
I have seen a television special (Discovery Channel or History Channel - sorry I can’t be more specific) dealing with this issue. According to it, the National Park Service is in a real conundrum. Surely I’ll be corrected if my memory is faulty: The slow leak, while kind of annoying, isn’t really that much of a problem. What there’s real fear of is a catastrophic failure some time in the future (like **friedo** mentions) as the ship continues to deteriorate, which could result in a very large oil spill in the harbor. So, what should the NPS do? Going in to attempt to “fix” the problem would be viewed by many as the desecration of a gravesite/monument. Doing nothing could be viewed in retrospect as neglect should a large rupture occur. They’re in a bit of a no-win situation. ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762/12 "2003-05-27T18:06:22Z")
In fact, the National Park Service [is worried about exactly that type of collapse](http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2003/01/): > [@](#): > > Over the past 6 decades, the hull has undergone substantial deterioration in the harbor’s corrosive environment; bulkheads have collapsed, and many of the ship’s overheads are corroded and weakened. > More than half a million gallons of fuel oil still trapped in the fractured hull poses a serious environmental risk, with the potential for much of the oil being released into the harbor when the Arizona’s fuel bunkers finally give way. Currently, there is concern that the upper decks are definitely showing some signs of collapse, but the condition of the bunkers is unknown. Two years ago, the Park Service used a small ROV to [survey the ship interior](http://data2.itc.nps.gov/submerged/dispproj.cfm?alphacode=USAR): > [@](#): > > June 2001 – Systematic interior ROV investigation with VideoRay ROV of USS Arizona. Comprehensive Ecorr and pH measurements from stem to stern, both port and starboard of Arizona for ongoing corrosion study with University of Nebraska metallurgists. Installed crack monitors and partnered with the US Army 29th Engineer Battalion Survey Platoon to collect GPS points for sub-centimeter accuracy in monitoring Arizona movement. Completed comprehensive open-porthole survey for interior inventory and oil assessment on cabin overheads. Veteran’s groups are reluctant to support any pumping of oil from the site or any kind of shoring operation. The oil drops are often held to be, as **RiverRunner** says, the tears of the ship itself. ---
**Author:** ![MSU\_1978](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@MSU\_1978](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MSU_1978)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearl-harbor/177762/13 "2003-05-27T18:08:42Z")
Good point, friedo. As rust continues, at some point the fuel tanks will rust through and/or be punctured by other parts of the wreck as it inevitably collapses. If they can get to the fuel tanks by divers, could they drill a hole, insert a hose and pump the oil out? Or do they have no choice but monitor the leakage and when the rate exceeds some tolerable limit, put floats around the ship to contain the leak and then skim the oil off the surface?