Preservation at Pearl Harbor

Author(s): Larry Murphy

Source: APT Bulletin, Vol. 19, No. 1, Maritime Preservation (1987), pp. 10-15
Published by: Association for Preservation Technology International (APT)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1494170
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INVESTIGATIVE
TECHNIQUES
Preservation at Pearl Harbor
Larry Murphy
USS Arizona was sunk at her
mooring
during
the
Japanese
attack on Pearl Har-
bor,
Hawaii on December 7, 1941,
with
a loss of 1,177
sailors and marines. More
than
1,100
men remain entombed within
the wreck. Extensive
damage
sustained
by
the
battleship precluded
the
possi-
bility
of
salvage,
and the hulk became a
widely recognized symbol
of the Pearl
Harbor attack
during
and after World
War II.
A memorial
building spanning
the
wreck was
completed
in 1962 and com-
memorates the Pearl Harbor attack and
resulting
casualties. The
striking
white
concrete, steel,
and marble structure,
designed by
Alfred
Preiss,
receives be-
tween 1.2 and 1.5 million visitors a
year.
In
1980,
a new visitor center was com-
pleted,
and the Arizona Memorial be-
came a unit in the National Park
System.
The National Park Service
(NPS)
as-
sumed
responsibility
for its
operation,
while the
Navy
retained
ownership.
NPS
is also
responsible
for maintenance,
interpretation
and
preservation
of the
memorial.
In order to
develop
a
long-range
management strategy,
NPS
Superintend-
ent
Gary
Cummins initiated a
phased
project
to
study
the
shipwreck.
The mul-
tidisciplinary project planned
to inte-
grate
historical
preservation
and
park
interpretation goals,
and draw assistance
from various
professional
communities,
eventually including archaeologists,
il-
lustrators, historians,
marine
biologists,
engineers, Navy salvage
divers,
and vol-
unteer divers. Dan Lenihan,
chief of the
NPS
Submerged
Cultural Resources Unit,
was asked to
bring
his team of under-
water
archaeologists
and illustrators from
the mainland to head the
operation.
Larry Murphy
is an
archaeologist
with the
National Park Service
Submerged
Cultural
Resource
Unit,
Santa
Fe,
New Mexico.
Survey
and
Mapping
In
1983,
the first
phase
of the evaluation
of USS Arizona was
begun.
The
objec-
tives were to conduct an extensive un-
derwater
survey
and
mapping operation
that included
photographic
and video
documentation to determine
exactly
what
remained of the
ship. Contemporary
Navy salvage operations
conducted in
the four
years following
the
sinking
had
removed most of the
superstructure
and
armament. No
diving operations
had
Undersea
investigatory,
mapping,
and conservation
techniques
are
being
devel-
oped
at Pearl Harbor.
been conducted on the wreck since the
completion
of Naval activities in
1945,
and no
maps
of the underwater features
of the wreck remained from the
salvage
dives.
The brief reconnaissance
survey
and
preliminary map
of the
wreck,
com-
pleted
in
1983,
resulted in some
signif-
icant
findings.
The entire forward turret
with its 14-inch
guns
was located intact;
there was no evidence of
torpedo entry
holes observed in the hull;
the source of
oil
leakage
was discovered;
and
perhaps
of most interest to
managers,
live ord-
nance was found
laying
in the deck
rubble
directly
under the memorial
structure. Naval
Explosive
Ordnance
Disposal
divers removed the ordnance.
In 1984 data collection was com-
pleted
for a series of detailed
drawings
that would serve as an
interpretive
de-
vice and a baseline for future studies.
The data collection was a
cooperative
effort between the National Park Service
and the U.S.
Navy.
The
funding
was
provided by
the Arizona Memorial Mu-
seum Association,
a
private support
group.
The final
product,
a five-view
graphic presentation
of the USS Arizona,
won for the National Park Service the
1985
John Wesley
Powell Prize for His-
toric
Display,
awarded
by
the
Society
for
History
in the Federal Government.
Phase II of the
project,
which took
place
in
July 1986,
was initiated
by
Bill
Dickenson,
who had
replaced
Cummins
as
superintendent
of the Memorial. One
objective
was to obtain additional data
to construct a model of the
ship
as it
appeared
on the bottom,
which had been
proposed
to
augment interpretation
of
the site for memorial visitors. The
graphic
presentation
of the wreck
required
more
detail for the
modeler,
and it was also
necessary
to document the debris on the
bottom of the harbor and the
nearby
mooring quays
to enhance the
display.
The revised
map
derived from the.un-
derwater
operations
was the
principal
data source for the model builder. The
map
would also serve as a baseline for
monitoring
the deterioration of the hulk.
Although
this
objective
involved
only
follow-up, using procedures
and tech-
niques developed
in Phase I,
the second
of Dickenson's
objectives
was much more
complicated:
he wanted to
begin
a
pro-
gram
that would
eventually
result in
understanding
what was
happening
to
the
ship's
fabric.
After the
question
"What is there?"
was answered in Phase I,
the next
logical
query
was "What's
happening
to-what's
there,
and what are the
implications
of
the deterioration
process
for
public
use
over time?"
-
a far more
complex
issue.
No one had
previously
confronted the
problem
of
developing
a
long-term pres-
ervation
program
for a whole
ship
in
situ. More
important,
no one had even
addressed the issue of whether a sub-
merged
war
grave (the
hull,
not the
memorial)
should be
preserved.
Whether
or not the
management
decision was
made to interfere in the natural
process
of deterioration,
the baseline data would
be
necessary.
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Undersea Conservation
Archaeological
conservators have devel-
oped many
successful
techniques
for the
stabilization and conservation of individ-
ual materials removed from a marine
environment,
but the conservation
prob-
lems inherent in a
complete
steel hull
600 feet
long
and 100 feet
wide,
im-
mersed for 45
years
in a rich
biological
and chemical
soup
is new
territory.
Ex-
perience
with materials from historical
marine
shipwrecks
indicates that most
ferrous materials are
protected
from con-
tinual corrosion
by
the formation of en-
crustation,
a
complex
interaction of
chemical and
biological processes.
En-
crustation
substantially
reduces or
stops
active corrosion. Furthermore, encrus-
tation can occur in
semi-tropical
waters
in as little as five
years.
The corrosion
rate for
unprotected
steel in seawater is
commonly given
as .005 inches
per year.
It became clear to the USS Arizona team
that
preservation
efforts of the
ship-
wrecks
remaining
in Pearl Harbor inev-
itably
had to answer
questions
about
corrosion and encrustation
processes.
A
first-cut research
design
was formulated
to answer the initial
question
and de-
velop
additional
questions
to
guide
fu-
ture
preservation
research on the
ship-
wrecks.
Dan Lenihan was overall
project
di-
rector of the 1986 fieldwork. The
prin-
cipal objectives
of the
study pertinent
to
site
preservation
were to:
*
Develop
a baseline
inventory
of bio-
logical
communities on the structure
of Arizona relevant to
determining
the biochemical
processes having
an
impact
on the vessel fabric.
* Obtain
quantifiable
measurements of
the state of deterioration of metal
structural elements at selected
points
on USS Arizona.
*
Complete
a reconnaissance level sur-
vey
and controlled sketch of USS
Utah,
the
only
other
remaining
vessel
that is an element of the Pearl Harbor
National Historic Landmark.
Dickenson and Lenihan
developed
a
series of
specific questions
relevant to
the first two
objectives.
When Dickenson
became aware of a local
expert
on marine
fouling processes,
Scott Henderson,
who
had conducted
prior
research in Pearl
Harbor,
he contracted for biochemical
analysis. Henderson,
a civilian marine
NPS Divers Mark
Senning
and Yvonne
Menard collect
biological samples from
the hull
of
USS Arizona
biologist working
for the Naval Ocean
Systems
Center of Honolulu, developed
a series of
hypotheses
and test
implica-
tions for
application during
the field
session. Some of the
biological
observa-
tions that follow came from his
prelim-
inary report.
A
secondary objective
of the 1986
operations
was to determine the
utility
of
directing
U.S.
Navy
reserve
training
exercises to do research on
submerged
cultural resources under the direction
and
supervision
of
professional
research-
ers. The reserve Mobile
Salvage
and
Diving
Unit
(MDSU)
from
Long
Beach
(Det. 319),
under the command of Otto
Orzech, cooperated jointly
with NPS
divers to collect
appropriate
data from
both USS Arizona and USS Utah.
Arizona was
analytically
divided into
horizontal and vertical surfaces based on
an examination of the 1984 base
map.
Sixty-one
vertical
points
were selected
by
Henderson for observations of bio-
fouling composition
and
thickness,
which
provided
20 transects of three observa-
tion stations
each, split equally
between
port
and starboard locations and
evenly
spaced
on the hull side. The stations
included both hull and
superstructure
elements. Twelve of the vertical stations
were selected for installation of a
per-
manently
mounted
pair
of
supports
that
now serve as a
registration
device for an
underwater camera mount. The
photo
station mounts allow a camera to be
repositioned exactly
so that
close-up pho-
tographs
can be taken to record bio-
fouling changes
over time. The vertical
photo
stations are a
key
element in the
long-term
site
monitoring program
un-
der
development.
APT Bulletin Vol. IX No. 1 1987 11
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Association for Preservation
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USS
ARIZONA
U.S. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
SUBMERGED CULTURAL RESOURCES UNIT
DRAWINGS BY
JERRY L. LIVINGSTON
witerrline
APT Bulletin Vol. IX No. 1 1987
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PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM BOW
Twenty-five
common taxa of
fouling
organisms
were observed and recorded.
Over 99
percent
of the vertical surfaces
are estimated to be covered with en-
crusting organisms.
The
hard-fouling
en-
crustation
layer, averaging
well over 3/4-
inch thick,
is
primarily composed
of
oyster
and vermetid shells, which
pro-
vide a substrate for
secondary growth
of
sponges
and tunicates. That hard en-
crustation
layer
forms a
protective
bar-
rier for the
underlying
steel fabric and
reduces the corrosive effects of seawater.
The encrustation
layer
maintains an an-
oxic environment
against
the exterior
steel surface that
promotes
the formation
of stable oxides and, presumably, signif-
icantly
reduces cathodic reaction and
corrosion.
Apparently
the inner
layer
of
encrustation, originally composed
of cal-
cium carbonate,
is
replaced by
ferrous
corrosion
products
bonded to the un-
derlying
steel.
The USS Arizona's vertical surfaces
were observed at 55 locations selected
from the base
map.
Each observation
station was marked
by
a
weighted
and
sequentially
numbered
plexiglass square
to allow future observations
during
site
monitoring.
At each station a series of
observations was made. Sediment
depth,
composition,
and
types
of biota were
recorded. In
addition,
where the over-
lying
sediment was less than 1-foot thick,
a small area was cleared to determine
the condition of the substrate,
which in
most cases was found to be teak deck.
The overburden was
composed
of
various combinations of sand,
rubble from
oysters
and vermetid worms
growing
on
nearby
vertical features,
and mud and
silt. The shallower areas of the hull
contained
primarily
sand and rubble;
the
deeper portions,
more mud and silt. The
underlying
teak deck was found to be
smooth and dense in most areas, although
some
damage by burrowing
mollusks was
noted, particularly
where the sediment
was thin. One
unexpected impact
to the
remaining
wood deck was observed: Over
100 areas were noted where the sediment
had been cleared
by
the
fanning
actions
of
egg-laying
fish. These nests,
1- to 3-
feet across, expose
the
underlying
teak
deck to the action of
burrowing
mollusks.
Researchers selected 12 areas on the
hull and
superstructure
for measurement
of metal and corrosion thickness. These
data were collected for use
by
corrosion
engineers
in
establishing
corrosion rates.
The
original
research
design
had
speci-
fied that small
representative samples
of
the steel fabric would be removed from
the
ship
for
laboratory analysis; however,
clearance was not
granted,
so no
samples
were taken. In the future,
fabric
analysis
will be an
important
research focus for
corrosion
engineers.
Corrosion and the
biofouling process
are affected
by
numerous water
quality
attributes, chiefly oxygen, pH
and mo-
tion. In order to determine the corrosion
rate of interior
spaces,
the chemical and
biological
conditions were assessed. Di-
vers made
biological
observations visu-
ally through
hull
openings, primarily
portholes.
No interior
spaces
were en-
tered,
but
adequate
observations of foul-
ing
were made with an underwater
light.
Biological fouling
was found on fewer
than 50
percent
of the observable sur-
faces.
Oysters
and vermetid worms occur
only
in a
very patchy
distribution on the
observable interior surfaces.
It was assumed that the interior
spaces
would exhibit lowered
oxygen
and
pH
levels
compared
to the ambient harbor
water,
as a result of the microbial and
corrosion
process coupled
with reduced
water motion. A
polyvinyl
chloride
(PVC)
probe
was constructed so that water
could be
pumped directly
to a surface
wet well
containing oxygen, pH
and
temperature probes.
The diver inserted
the PVC
probe
into interior
spaces
to a
distance of 15 feet. The measurements
were taken and
samples
of the interior
water were collected and chilled for
determination of the
presence
of sulfides
Association for Preservation
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and
hydrocarbons.
There were no
exfoliating layers,
which would indicate active
corrosion,
observed in the interior
spaces.
The dis-
solved
oxygen
was found to be
signifi-
cantly
reduced in the interor
spaces.
As
would be
expected,
the areas closest to
the
opening
exhibited some
flushing
ac-
tivity.
PH was
only slightly
reduced in
the interior. Petroleum
products
were
observed in some of the interior
spaces
and were
brought up
in the
probe
sam-
ples.
The main concentration of
hydro-
carbons seems to have sunk to the lower
level of the
spaces.
The combination of
reduced
oxygen
and
presence
of
hydro-
carbons
apparently
reduced the corro-
sion rates within the hull itself and
may
compensate
for the limited
protection
offerred
by
the
biological fouling.
In addition to the biochemical ob-
servations,
a
bathycorrometer
was uti-
lized
during
the
project.
A
bathycorro-
meter
gives
an indication of the
galvanic
activity present.
The unit is a diver-
operated
instrument that measures the
electrical
potential
difference between
the structural steel and a silver chloride
reference
electrode,
then
gives
a
digital
readout in millivolts. The
bathycorro-
meter data have been turned over to
metallurgical engineers
at Pearl Harbor
Naval
Shipyard
for
analysis.
The
cooperation
between archaeol-
ogists
and marine
biologists
has
produced
important
baseline
data,
and
managers
have committed to an
ongoing
monitor-
ing
of the observation stations established
during
this field work.
Although
this has
been a
significant beginning,
it is
just
the start. Before there is sufficient data
for
management
to make a decision re-
garding
the
long-term preservation pro-
gram
of the
shipwrecks
of Pearl
Harbor,
more information is needed.
The
experience
of
archaeological
conservators with the conservation of
metal hulls in situ is
limited,
and the
'
literature is
scanty.
The
problem
of con-
servation and
preservation presented by
USS Arizona and USS Utah resembles
the
problems
faced
by
those concerned
with corrosion of
floating ships
and sub-
merged
structures more than the
prob-
lems faced
by archaeological
conserva-
tors in a
laboratory. Proposed
future
research
plans
include the use of non-
destructive
techniques
for
determining
the thickness of the hull
plates. Samples
of the anaerobic sediments
surrounding
the embedded hull will be taken to
determine the nature of corrosion
prod-
ucts
present.
NPS will
request
clearance
for the removal of fabric
samples,
and
the
multidisciplinary
research will be
expanded
to include the active
partici-
pation
of corrosion
engineers, metallurg-
ists and other
specialists
and their re-
spective
laboratories.
As the Pearl Harbor field work makes
clear,
both USS Arizona and USS Utah
exist within a
complex biological
and
electro-chemical environment. The
pres-
ervation
program
for these historic ves-
sels
depends
on
understanding, and, per-
haps, eventually manipulating
this
environment. Additional measurements
are needed to
complete
the initial
step
in
understanding
the environmental con-
text of the Pearl Harbor
shipwrecks.
The
data will be used to
begin
the
process
of research
design
formulation to deter-
mine the
life-span
of the hulls if no
action is
taken,
and to determine what
further tests and
experiments
are nec-
essary
to
develop appropriate
conserva-
tion
procedures
to
prevent
further de-
terioration of the vessel
fabric,
should
that
option
be
adopted by management.
The ramifications of the research on
the Pearl Harbor
shipwrecks go
far be-
yond
those sites.
Many important
iron
and steel vessels are
submerged
world
wide,
and the
preservation
of those ves-
sels in situ
may
be the
only
viable
alternative to their eventual
disintegra-
tion.
PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM STERN
APT Bulletin Vol. IX No. 1 1987
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