No simple answer to this question. Strong arguments and passionate opinions exist on both sides. I've personally witnessed the rapid deterioration of many wreck sites and believe the answer lies somewhere in the middle. I realize that without standards (historical artifacts versus war graves) this may sound implausible, but our WWII veterans will soon be gone and if we choose to leave "all" wreck sites to nature's elements, they too will be lost.

Last year we had the giant steam whistle recovered from the RMS Titanic here in town at Kahlenberg Brothers for structural testing. This small piece of history received a lot of media coverage and people were genuinely moved. Had this been a replica, I doubt it would have made the local paper.

I remember seeing a photograph of Sutsuki's telegraph taken with Kimiuo Aisek sometime in the 1980's. I took this close-up of that same telegraph around 1993. I noticed then already that the face was deteriorating. I returned to the Sutsuki engine room about 8 years later hoping to get a better shot of this telegraph, but was disappointed to find the face completely rusted away.

Aikoku's engine room remains

Fujikawa's Machine Shop

Sutsuki's telegraph