What are "The Tears of the Arizona"?

"The Tears of the Arizona" or "black tears" refer to globules of fuel slowly leaking from the USS Arizona, a US Pennsylvania Class battleship, sunk by the Japanese during the December 7, 1941 attack on the Pacific Fleet Headquarters based in Pearl Harbor, HI. It is estimated that almost 500,000 gallons are still on the ship as of 2016 and the oil is slowing leaking at a rate of about 2.3 quarts a day, forming 'black teardrops' on the surface.1177 officers and men were lost on the Arizona alone, many of them still entombed in the sunken ship, which is a Memorial, visited by thousands of people each year.Survivors of the attack have the option of having their ashes entombed with their fellow shipmates in a full military funeral at the Arizona memorial, the cremated remains are placed in an urn and then deposited by divers beneath one of the Arizona’s gun turrets. Others have had their ashes scattered above the USS Arizona Memorial.

More Info: www.history.com

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41 Comments

Pat Davis

I visited the Arizona Memorial and added my own tears. So heartbreaking.

scottsman

I visited the memorial back in 1969 on the way to Vietnam and saw the tears then. I have never forgotten it. It stays with you, just like visiting the wall in Washington, DC.

Carol Foreman

krkyates, Most children aren't taught the truth about history, period.

namiphi

Then why show us a picture of the desert.

Richard D. Boyle

I witnessed these tears for the first time in March of 1958 on my way to the Far East for two years of USAF service. It was a profoundly emotional experience at the time and remains so today more than 63 years later.

Charles Ed Thompson

The second "the" gives it away.

Dib Hopkins

why cant they recover? surrky we have the technology.

ninakamwene

No idea

Joan Kilpatrick

With today's technology, why don't they extract the remaining oil?

Lynne Zeman

So very,very sad.....

Ed Taber

matthew rosa, Cracks in the ocean floor near Santa Barbara, CA. have been leaking about 50 barrels of crude every day for millions of years. Every tectonic event opens and closes innumerable such cracks.

Michael Doherty

Great trivia q & a.

Carol Lauter

I've visited the Arizona memorial. But never heard of the "tears of Arizona."

patrhea

A terrible thing and should have never happened. Heartbreaking. Wondering if somehow if the oil could be tapped and recycled, stopping the pollution maybe. Just a thought.

Steven Ernest Scott

Michael Baltzer, No, nature did NOT evolve over millions of years. #1.} God created everything. #2.} The universe is only 7,501 years old.

matthew rosa

They Should Stop This Patriotic Over-Romancing Of The Pearl Harbor Tragedy And Face A More Tragic Ecological Reality About The Ever-Increasing Flow Of This "Bunker Oil" Flowing Out As The Battleship Hull Deteriorates. It Might Be Unseemly And Off-Putting To The Tourist Visiting Pearl Harbor, But They Should Understand And Accept The Sight Of Floating, Oil-Absorbing "Brakes" Or "Dams" Around The U.S.S. ARIZONA Memorial To Prevent This Ancient Oil From Damaging The Unique, One-Of-A-Kind Flora And Fauna Of The Haw'aian Islands That Their Local Environmental Protection Office Works So Hard To Protect (Their Jobs Usually Include Stopping People From Taking Rare Plants And Wildlife AND Preventing The Introduction Of Invasive Species.) Part Of The Navy's Modern-Day Role Is To Protect Many Water-Based Environments, That Their Well-Being Might Be Aventaitonal To Their Strategic And Tactical Needs As Well As To The World At Large.