other considerations
All of the ships sunk carried large quantities of oil as fuel. So while there were 25 tankers lost, each merchantman created a significant localized spill.
On the other hand, the sinking of tankers -- and other ships -- was nearly invariably accompanied by fire. So a significant amount of oil would have burned off before being dispersed by wind/wave action or washing ashore.
----- Original Message ----
From: macbd1 <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wed, May 12, 2010 3:18:57 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Oil spills on Virginia Shore during WWII
Thanks for your info, Eric. I checked a few from your source and see these tankers were much smaller than the T-2 variety that several hyperlinks stated were the workhorse of WWII. This would reduce my prior calc of 4.7 million gal/tanker loss to about half or less, maybe 2 million or so, thereby reducing the amount of oil loss from 25 tankers sunk by German U-boats along the eastern seaboard in the first six months of 1942 to somewhere around 50 million gallons total, still quite a lot compared to the Exxon Valdez loss of 11 million gallons. The amount of spillage in proximity of Virginia's beaches is still lacking a study of each sinking, that I'll leave to you or Randy, but suspect it was near the Exxon Valdez loss. The cleanup work must have been horrendous and was surely covered by local newspapers although this may have been a relatively minor concern compared to other impacts of World War II.
But further surprising to me, that puts things in an entirely different perspective, from:
http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Oc-Po/Oil-Spills-Impact-on-the-Ocean.html
"It is estimated that approximately _* 706 *_ million gallons of waste oil enter the ocean *every year*, with over half coming from land drainage and waste disposal; for example, from the improper disposal of used motor oil. Offshore drilling and production operations and spills or leaks from ships or tankers typically contribute less than 8 percent of the total. The remainder comes from routine maintenance of ships (nearly 20 percent), hydrocarbon particles from onshore air pollution (about 13 percent), and natural seepage from the seafloor (over 8 percent) (= 56+ million gal./yr.)..... (and furthermore, that) offshore drilling operations contribute about 2.1 percent (= 14.8 million gal./yr. which will be exceeded this year from the Gulf incident = 4.6 million gal. loss as of today 5/12/10, and counting), and transportation accidents (both ships' fuel and tankers) account for another 5.2 percent." This link also addresses cleanup and natural
dissipation of crude oil in oceans.
So Virginia's beaches are detrimentally affected to some degree every year, but not to the extent of 1942.
Neil McDonald
----- Original Message -----
From: "Huffstutler, Eric S." <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 11:14 AM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Oil spills on Virginia Shore during WWII
Neil, Looks like many on the list were small tankers after
cross-referencing the Uboat.net website and the tanker names in the
usmm.org spreadsheet.
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/listing.php
They run roughly 5,000-10,000 tons. Nothing like the tankers of today
that weigh in at 100,000-200,000 tons each.
But it is fascinating to know that Virginia had its own oil spill of
sorts.
Eric
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