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| Above, "tears of the Arizona" rise to the surface from the sunken ship. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
It was very moving for me to see firsthand the sunken battleship USS Arizona resting on the bottom of Pearl Harbor below me from the deck of the USS Arizona Memorial.
For years, I have heard that oil still seeps to the surface from the vessel. I saw it for myself last May. They are called "the tears of the Arizona" or "black tears".
It was an experience to see the ship at rest, knowing that men are entombed inside.
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| Above, the USS Arizona Memorial, built over the sunken ship. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
War History Online has an interesting article on a recent ten-day survey of the interior of the ship by unmanned submersibles.
They wrote:
Clearly, the deputy chief and photographer of the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Centre (SRC) has been touched by the latest images from the sunken battleship USS Arizona, which has lain at the bottom of Pearl Harbour since December 7, 1941.
Brett Seymour, viewing recent images from remotely operated vehicles says the most striking find was a jacket hanging in an officer’s quarters.
It was clean, not covered in sediment, and hadn’t fallen off the hangar. It was there, standing proud.
Seymour was part of a team which was comprised of the NPS and National Geographic photographers that for ten days documented the interior first and second decks of the 608-foot long battleship.
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| Above, the deck of the USS Arizona. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
According to the article, the next step is to survey the third deck, "whenever that will be."
To read more, go here.
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