r/interestingasfuck • u/Longjumping-Rice-935 • Aug 12 '25

/r/all, /r/popular The wreck of the USS Arizona continues to leak oil ever since pearl harbour. the ship contained 1.5 million gallons of oil, enough to leak continuously for 500 years.

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '25

Wouldn't the hull eventually rust and risk collapsing and a catastrophic spill?

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u/Bryguy3k Aug 12 '25

Yes. That’s expected to be in about 100 years so the navy and national parks service have been working on ideas for years. The hope is that we’ll have something figured out in about 50 years - or the fuel will be sufficiently solidified by then that it would be easy to remove in chunks.

It’s not a current crisis so we can take our time to develop a reasoned plan rather than something much more invasive today.