Scientists Will Seek Cause of Corrosion on Battleship Arizona
The National Park Service’s Western Regional office has hired scientists to try to determine what is causing one side of the hull of the sunken battleship Arizona to corrode at a more rapid rate than the other.
The ship was sunk in the Dec. 7, 1941, surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese that precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II. It is now a national memorial that attracts 1.5 million visitors a year. The ship lies in 38 feet of water.
The Park Service said scientists from the Cooperating Park Study Unit at the University of Hawaii will spend two years investigating why deterioration is occurring to certain portions of the starboard side of the hull.
Visitors to the memorial, which sits atop the hull, board from the other side of the battleship, which appears to be in relatively stable condition.
The Park Service said the deterioration has caused huge plates from the steel armor belt around the hull to sink into the mud. In other areas, steel is separating like a layer cake. Discovery of the deterioration came in an underwater survey conducted in 1983 and 1984.
“We want to know why this heavy corrosion is occurring at some locations and not at others,” said Park Service Supt. Gary Cummins.
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