In 1942, the second happy time for U-boats has sunk a lot of shipping, including oilers. Was there oil spill disasters from this? Was oil washing up on the shores and just forgotten about with all the other chaos going on? Was there any long term effects?
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It is important to remember this is a different era and oil spills just were not part of the equation for many governments. With that being said There were varying degrees of responses to oil and fuel spills close to land from full cleanup to half hearted attempts to letting nature deal with it. In war you have to prioritize everything. Further out oil spills were left to nature.
As to sunken vessels regardless of the era the vessel sunk they are all ticking time bombs the problem lies with how to deal with it, who pays for it and who takes responsibility for it. Vessels in less than 3000 feet of water are closely monitored as they pose a greater threat say than one that is at 7000 feet deep.
Add to that it is costly and dangerous to recover fuel oil and heavy oil from WW2 wrecks as
- many have UXOs on board and require care to deal with
- many are considered gravesites therefore can’t be touched without permission from several sources
- it is very and I do mean it is very costly to recover fuel and oil from underwater.
- there are limitations on how deep you can safely do recoveries
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