WWII-era sunken ships leaking oil in Florida, elsewhere

Imagine last summer's Deepwater Horizon oil spill happening in slow motion, millions of gallons of oil fouling beaches and fishing grounds over decades instead of months.

That's the kind of long-term disaster federal environmental officials say could happen as thousands of World War II-era shipwrecks erode in coastal waters around the world.

After nearly 70 years under the sea, those ships have reached the point where their steel fuel tanks and cargo holds could soon give way, emptying their contents into the surrounding water.

One of the ships on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's watch list is the Joseph M. Cudahy, which rests in the Gulf of Mexico off southwest Florida.

Three days out of Houston, the oil tanker was bound for Pennsylvania with 77,444 barrels of fuel and lubricating oil....