Pinned post for Q&A :)

They didn't steal it. They strategically transferred it to an alternate location. 😎

As a native its always fun to see the reaction of people when you tell them there's a U-boat on display in a Chicago museum

Big missed opportunity here- they should really have named the new museum wing the after the guy who captured the sub: the Gallery gallery.

Man, I loved that exhibit when I lived in Chicago! The audio-visual presentation that ends with: "... Loudspeakers blared an order that had not been given on a US Navy warship for more than a century: 'Away all boarding parties! Away all boarding parties!' ..." Get chills up my spine just thinking about it.

Drach, about 50 years ago, I actually met one of the members of the U-505 boarding party at my Grandfather's house in Norfolk VA. Of course I can't remember his name, but he did retire as an Admiral. He indicated that the event made it very easy to get promotions even when others were more deserving in his eyes.

Excellent tour, Drach! My wife is from west Texas, and during the war her grandmother served as a volunteer air spotter in a tiny little town there called Eola. Her grandmothers job was to spot, identify, and log every airplane that flew overhead for the time she served, and for years afterward the family had joked that “no Japanese or German plane ever got passed Mamaw”. About a decade ago I took my wife to see the U-505 exhibit, and one thing you didn’t mention is that the gallery does a terrific job of explaining the u-boat war for the Americans. My wife was utterly shocked to know that for the first year of the war German u-boats like this Type IX were sinking ships every day right off of Houston, Galveston, Mobile and other Gulf ports. They hadn’t taught in school that for 1942 the Gulf of Mexico was one of the most dangerous places to sail in the world and with the loss of only a single u-boat (I think) in 1942. She never knew the war was that close to her home. Suddenly the work that Grandma volunteered for wasn’t so funny anymore.

"That's ridiculous man, how you steel a whole submarine?" -Axel Foley, USN

The World of Warships/Grand Theft Auto crossover you didn't know you needed...

An enigma wrapped in a museum

In a college History class, we were taught about the capture of U-505 and an older lady raised her hand and asked if this was declassified now. The Professor assured her it was and it turned out her husband was on one of the destroyers and told her all about it- after swearing her to utter secrecy. So we got a beautiful second hand account of the operation. When the captured the sub they were overjoyed, they were heroes. The radio messages tried to say what had happened with out saying what happened so it took a while for the higher ups to figure out what had happened, meanwhile they steamed towards the Med. Upon figuring it out there was panic that the Germans might find out if they got anywhere near Gibraltar and they ordered to turn around and head back the way they came. Morale plummeted as the realization set in that they were not ever getting the hero's welcome they had so looked forward to.

I know it is not really 'LOL' written in the top-right corner of that intercepted German message at 1:45, but it made my heart glow to consider the Allied decryption team scribbling various emoticons on their results.

My grandfather was there! Born in 1925 in Philadelphia, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943. He ended up assigned to USS Flaherty as a Fire Controlman. He passed in 2005, but he was always really proud of being a part of the Hunter Killer Task Group that captured U-505. His favorite movie was Das Boot and we would watch it together on many occasions as a kid in the early 90s. My grandmother (his wife) had a brother who was KIA in North Africa in the 1st Inf Div and I remember her hating WWII movies of any kind because it reminded her of her brother. Anyway, I still have my grandfather's U.S. Navy issued gaiters with our last name and "1943" (the year he entered the Navy) stamped on them. He had hundreds of black and white pictures of their task group launching depth charges, Wildcats and Avengers in the air, explosions in the water - all kinds of cool stuff. Cool to see you cover this, Drach since it has a close family connection to me.

Actually the display hall looks and feels like one of the sub pens in, say, La Rochelle. A definite plus. Time to rewatch Das Boot.

As a child I had the opportunity to visit U-505 while visiting my grandparents. She was still outside at this point. They kept the engines in operational condition (they would run them to maintain them). What stood out to me the most was the smell of oil and diesel. I can still remember that smell to this day.

The admiralty was actually very angry because there was a chance this capture would expose the fact Enigma was broken. The USN had to keep the crew completely in confinement from everybody and everything until the war in Europe was over.

I visited the 505 some 30 or 40 years ago and when I entered the room where the artifacts were then stored, saw an old man talking to the docents. It turned out that he was a member of the boarding party and lived in the area and had donated his commendations to the museum. One of his buddies was coming for a visit and he was checking out the display before bringing the buddy. He was the guy who put the cover back on the bridge strainer (all the German needed to do was turn 90 degrees to the right and he could have dropped it into the bilge). He told me that the German was living in Florida and they had met. I was very lucky that day and got to shake hands with a tiny bit of history.

Thanks for keeping the robot voice in the outro. Makes us longtime viewers feel warm and fuzzy. Hope my vote for it way back when helped.

My favorite part of this story is that, when the submarine was transferred to the museum, it had been looted of all possibly useful fixtures for research. The Museum of Science and Industry reached out to the firms that had outfitted the boat for replacement parts. The German firms provided all the parts free of charge 'as the U-505 was a testament to German engineering.'

As a lifelong chicago resident, I think I can say that my love of naval history started with visiting the U-505 as a kid. I'm glad you've made a video on it, not enough people realize that we've got a whole submarine hanging out in one of our museums.

I've not toured this boat but I have toured the USS Requin (SS 481) here in Pittsburgh. I was amazed how many things on my boat, built in 1991, looked like this boat built in WW2. The boat smell was identical! I did six years in the nav, and four were on a boat, a fast attack boat out of Groton. My boat's culture was to minimize hot racking, which they did by mounting racks on the same slide/cradle they use to move weapons around. They would then load these and voila, a bunch of extra racks. This was "the good deal", since I had my own rack. Yes... But do you know how gorram loud a test fire of the torpedo system is?! And the queue for chow was also in the torpedo room. So while I'm trying to get 4 or maybe 5 hours of sleep before I stand reactor operator again, I get to instead listen to the inane ramblings of other crew. I slept with earplugs in. Anyways, the picture of the forward torpedo gave me a real "the more things change, the more they stay the same" vibe. Thanks for another cool video!

I can say that not only did I make it to the U-505 before Drach, I can say I first visited the boat long before Ddach was born. I might have visited it before his parents were born. My first visit was in 1956 and the docent was a former U-boat sailor who emigrated to the US after the war. A friend of mine's, Uncle ( VADM Wally Massenburg) was chief engineer on the Guadalcanal. He continue the family tradition of specializing in ASW. Wally was a P-3 guy. Galllery was a real character. He played a minor in the Revolt of Admirals. Formed a flight demonstration team made up of flag officers known as the Grey Eagles flying FH Phantoms. He was also an accomplished author writing several humerous adventures of a fictitious naval officer.as well as "Twenty Millions Ton Under the Sea" about his experiences in the War leading up to the capture. Drach did you visit the coal mine?.

As a very young Lt (jg) I was assigned to the LPH-7, the USS Guadalcanal. The wardroom was full of pictures of and awards from the original ship from WWII. Thank you for a superb video. I have always wondered what happened to all the "stuff" we got to look at while having a coffee aboard the ship. Now scrapped, the LPH-7 was a floating memorial, that could fight, of the 1st ship with that name. There was a rumor that the navy was at first very pissed that her Captain captured rather than just sinking the U 505 because we already had the Enigma machine with 4 rotors and the current German codes. The fear was that they might find out that we had captured their most current codes and then change them. As it would be impossible to Court-Martial a Captain for capturing a enemy warship, plus the public nature of such an event, the Navy promoted him and ordered him to STFU about the affair. At least that was the wardroom scuttlebutt.

I saw this sub in 1975. I was surprised at how cramped this sub is. It is something everyone should see.

Grew up within 'field trip' distance, so I'm lucky lucky lucky. Toured it in 1970. We also had the Shed Aquarium, and the Field Museum, which has The Man-eaters of Tsavolions from The Ghost and the Darkness. First time I saw those lions, the hair on the back of my neck stood up as I was looking.

I look at her upper works and shudder thinking about the amount of flow noise she'd make compared to a modern boat.

I was fortunate enough to see U-505 in 2019 during a trip to Chicago. My jaw literally dropped when I walked into the exhibit room. It's absolutely massive; you never realize how large submarines can be until you see one up close out of the water.

Heard this story before, but the extra detail that Drach added made it fresh and well worth the time.

A textbook example of how to strategically transfer equipment to alternate locations. USS Nemo

Toured U-505 a few years ago and loved the exhibit. The story behind the boat’s initial movement onto dry land and then years later to the purpose built underground exhibit hall is a fascinating engineering feat in and of itself.

U 505 is the first enemy warship captured by the U.S. Navy since the War of 1812.

RADM Daniel Vincent Gallery was an outstanding example of naval story teller. His non-fiction books (including the story of the U-505) and his fiction books are great reads, mostly because of his sense of humour. He told the story of his experiences as naval attache and, later, commander of the Fleet Air Base in Reykjavik when he received letters and documents signed by British officers with sometimes long sets of initialisms after their name. Gallery took to adding the letters DDLM after his signature on documents he sent to his British counterparts. Finally, one of his correspondents asked what the initialism stood for. Gallery replied that it was something like a Knight of the Bath - it meant Dan, Dan, the Lavatory Man.

Back in 1986 I visited this submarine in Chicago. It was one of the high points of a vacation trip as I was absolutely fascinated by being able to tour an enemy sub. Took home a couple books on the whole operation. At that time I knew very little about the Battle of the Atlantic.

Nice job! I visited U-505 in 1966, and it was cool back then. It led me to read Gallery’s book 20 Million Tons Under the Sea, which is one of the most balanced and well written histories of the Battle of the Atlantic. Being Dan Gallery, it is also very funny! Thanks for letting me see U-505 again!

Planning on visiting her in 3 weeks. Chicago is a little over an hour away from me and I have to go there frequently. If anyone wants to visit I recommend leaving your car behind and just taking metra to the museum. Driving in Chicago is a nightmare and every parking location charges you including the museum.

Got to tour the U505 when I was in boot camp at Great Lakes in November 1970. At that time they had cut openings at the bow and stern to allow visitors to walk through the boat.

Thanks Drach, one of my favorite stories. For anyone who doesn't know Daniel Gallery ended up being a fairly prolific author, writing both non-fiction & fiction.

the new Grand Theft Submarine game looks lit

When I visited 50+ years ago, we simply walked through the vessel--no special tickets, no number restrictions. I came away with a link of the anchor chain, but it was purchased! 🤣

Having been born and raised in Chicago the U505 was more a part of the family than a tourist destination. She really was beginning to deteriorate very rapidly, and the Museum of Science and Industry has done a masterful job of restoration and preservation. I hope you had a chance to visit the rest of this excellent facility.

31:52 "I made a complete 'pig's ear' of it." Which, according to 'Phrase Finder', derives from "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."

I saw the title and TFE’s voice rose unbidden in my mind.

I first saw U505 as a 5th grader in 1965. What impressed me was that i was 10, but she was very restricted and imagined how a crew of 40 men cpuld have functioned in such tight quarters for months at a time. I decided that submarine service was not for me and joined the AF 12 years later. Thanks, Drach...My first shipboard tour was an epithelial experience.

I’ve been waiting a long time for you to do this video. I grew up north of Chicago and visiting U-505 at MSI (in the early ‘90’s) certainly helped spark my lifelong love affair for military history generally, and naval history specifically.

One of my late-USN Serving Grandfathers books was Hunter-Killer: *'Escort Carriers in the Battle of the Atlantic'* and does a great job regaling the tales of Guadalcanal and her little misfits. As it one of her crew commented on D-Day which was just a few days after: "Look what Eisenhower had to do to top us!"

I wish I could have gotten the day off that time so I could join my parents when they went to Chicago. Thank you for the autograph, sir.

Was just there a few weeks ago with the kids! They've done a great job with the exhibit - way better than when my school field trips went there in the 1980's and the U-505 was just outside rusting in the snow.

Every time I move something big and awkward, I remember my home town moved a submarine across Lake Shore Drive.

That is the first submarine I was privileged to board. Near my aunts house in the Chicago museum. 10 cents to enter. Did US sub duty on two boats, 623 and 611. 1981 to 1987. Sonar SSBN/SSN Happy Independence Day!

Hey babe the U505 video finally dropped! I love taking visitors to this exhibit. Blows my mind every time I walk into the hall.

I've been to that museum and on the Boat at well. It's a great museum! The sub is pretty cozy as Drach implies

My grandpa did the metallurgy tests on U-505. Somewhere in the back of my closet I have a chunk of metal from her hull and a journal/worksheet of its properties.

Admiral Gallery was a gifted writer. I highly recommend his books, some of which go into even more detail on the capture of U505.

I first saw U-505 in the '60s. Later, as an adult, I visited again. I was struck at that time that the U-505 still smelled like a submarine. I could close my eyes and be back on board the boat on which I served. It is a distinctive smell that, apparently, is tenacious and eternal. You are correct that it is an interesting comparison between the Silversides (which was at Navy Pier when I was aboard) and U-505. US submariners definitely enjoyed better conditions, but taking into account the difference in operating theatres and expectations is not unreasonable. Niggling point, BTW, that is not a bilge strainer. It is an in-line sea strainer in the portion of a pipe run from a hull penetration to a pump or heat exchanger. The cover was removed to allow the ocean contents to enter the people tank freely. This one was the major source of water entering the boat at the time according to the accounts I have read.

Thank you for this. I could not travel to the USA and I would be uncomfortable in such a small space so you have given me a great understanding of the submarine. I have nothing but admiration for the crews on both sides who worked in them.

My father did the engineering work on the new structure and support for it, and I remember so many visits growing up. Was my favorite part of my favorite museum. I’m glad people are getting to hear about it!

I made a solo trip to Chicago a few months ago just to see this. The whole museum is great, but 505 and the Pioneer Zephyr stole the show. I've been on two Balao class U. S. fleet boats before but was really suprised how small these type VIIs are inside. Thanks for sharing.

A crewman of U-505 wrote a memoir of his years serving on the boat entitled Steel Boat Iron Hearts.

Didn't know they had acoustic homing torpedoes technology in WW2. I'd like to know more about this in future videos.

21:10 “Never meet your heroes.”-Rubbish, and I’m glad your experience has been the same as mine. He was a nuclear physicist. I had his cell phone, home phone, and vacation phone numbers on speed-dial. He used to have Werner on speed-dial. He also used to trigger my imposter syndrome in me by faxing things I wrote for him to addresses you would know without googling. I’m telling you this because you need to write a book on meeting your heroes. Now, before they’re all six fathoms under.

Saw this U-boat in Chicago a couple of years ago. Well worth the time. Interesting effect is that viewing the vessel from the outside, it's immense but once inside it's really tight quarters.

Avengers were quite large aircraft and escort carriers were rather small carriers. Was there a substantial difficulty in operating them together? Considering the Wildcat was kept in production specifically as a compact CVE friendly fighter, it seems odd.

As a kid living in San Diego in the late 50's, early 60's, I had the opportunity to explore about 20 US WWII diesel boats during their calls at San Diego. Very cramped, even for a kid about 10. About 40 years ago I was in Groton and toured the USS Nautilus (SSN-571). Was amazed with the staircase!

Dan Gallery was a friend of mine and a fine man with a great sense of humor. My youngest son is named after him.

My father had a copy of Daniel Gallery's book "We captured a U-Boat". It covers the U505's history as well as Gallery's time in Iceland commanding a PBY unit and his time in command of the Guadalcanal escort group. I wish I'd kept hold of it.

23:02- Sadly probably the only law still enforced in Chicago

Hey Drach, loved this vid and your appearances at the Big J! After wanting to go see it for almost 20 years, I finally got to go see U-505 back in May. It completely lived up to my expectations and then some. Next up on my list is the U-254.... I mean Wilhelm Bauer. Time to save up for a Germany trip!

It's a pleasure to see the interior of the museum again. I was born and raised in Chicago: my father took me to the museum on his off time. I've spent many hours in the aggregate in U-505 and many days (also aggregated) in the museum overall. I don't live in Illinois anymore, so I haven't been back in over 20 years. Incidentally, I did get a PhD in engineering instead of becoming a medical doctor like my closest relatives. I guess all that museum time did something.

Visited U-505 in 1981 at the age of 10. What a great memory! Thank you for the tour!

Isn't this the last time a major power took a prize?

Who else has toured U-505?

There are a few things in World War II that I think are more terrifying than trying to board a damaged U-boat that might be booby trapped. Salute to the few men that boarded this sub.

I read Adm. Gallery's book on the action and the u-505 history in high school. Shortly after graduation, I toured the ship and noted many of the things mentioned in the book. Very interesting. However, I later visited in my late 50s, and my impression was completely different, almost scary. I did note that the valve handles were oriented differently, so as to ease identification in low or no light conditions. Really gives you an appreciation for the dedication of the crew members. Nice video, thanks.

Fun fact. Adm Gallery wrote several books of fiction around Chief Boaswainsmate who ran the incinerator on an aircraft carrier.. hilarious books. Fatso wi.l live forever!

Near the end, it shows a gallery with all sorts of aircraft; the commercial aircraft is an L-1011 and they do this thing every 20 or 30 minutes wherein they cycle the flaps and landing gear as if it were taking off or landing. The whole museum is quite interesting.

My Grandfather John L. Lowe was aboard the USS Jenks during the capture of U505! Great video. Seeing U505 is on my bucket list for sure!

Hey! The U-505.. being born and raised in Chicago I have countless found memories since the 1970's of her, mostly outside on the side of the Museum. They had a substantial steam engine collection as well. It was always the Coal Mine and the U-505 were the highlight of every visit.

I have visited U-505 twice during business trips. I noted that the docents did not mention the fate of 505's second captain.

I have visited this twice first time was when my early teens and it was outside. Just before the pandemic we took our daughters (the oldest was 11 at the time). The oldest asked if she could touch it, she lit up when I told her we were going abroad. All 4 loved it, despite having little interest in naval history. I love the new exhibit, it has a sub pen feeling.

23:25 only unlawful as a museum. This is a great video tour! Thanks so much!

I have visited U-505 on two occasions but I live near the USS Croaker, SSK-246 Gato class at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park. Also here we have the USS Sullivan s DD-537 Fletcher class destroyer and the USS Little Rock CL-92 (CLG-4) Cleveland class light cruiser. Very much worth the visit. I live about 20 minutes from the park and see the vessels most days on my drive to work.

I have been to see the last surviving above water Type VII (U-995) at the German naval memorial near Keil and the Type XXI (U-2540) in Bremerhaven. I can confirm its a very claustrophobic enviroment on a Type VII, it is not an environment i would want to live in for a patrol. I now understand more about the conditions my dad served in on HMS Thrasher.

That 30 person occupancy warning needs an accompanying "This U-Boat is known to the State of California to cause cancer" warning just to complete the vibe. U-Boat crews certainly hoped they survived long enough for that to be a concern!

Growing up in Chicago during the 60’s, a visit to 505 was always a highlight of a trip to Science and Industry. Haven’t visited since she was moved inside.

Went to the Science Museum 2 years ago. 505 and the DC-9 are really cool displays. The DC-9 is a moving display too, the gear and flaps lower and raise every minute or so. Well worth the trip to see it all.

Drach, Stole is a rather harsh term for what happened. We prefer, borrowed permanently.

I thought u-505 was captured not stolen!!.

I've been visiting this museum since 1973 and have always been fascinated by the exhibits, especially this U-505 german submarine, thanks for covering it!

she's an absolute beauty. loved seeing her when i was at the museum (which i would highly recommend) and hope to go back soon. glad you got to see her as well :)

What happened to the intro?

I visited U-505 scores of times when I was a kid, back when it was still outside. They used to let you just wander around the sub back then. It felt cramped to me when I first saw it as a six year-old. I cannot imagine how it felt for the unfortunate sailors aboard. Also, if you want to play with an Enigma, there's a bunch of them that you can use at the NSA museum in DC.

I live in Chicago, and have been to the museum/U boat many times! They are both well worth a visit!!

American buccaneers, give it back

23:00 I'm now imagining Chicago suing the Kriegsmariener for unsafe practices over, not sending men to die in late 1944 Germany, but for exceeding capacity for their own U-Boats.

I visited U-505 as a child, just after they brought her in from the cold, with my father and grandfather who served in the Navy during the Korean War. Towards the end of the exhibit there was a station where you could make your own dogtags with whatever you wanted on them. My grandpa got me a set of dogtags with my name and date of birth and I still wear them to this day. Thanks Grandpa.

Sometime around 1956-7 as a 10-ish year old lad we had a school trip to the Museum. I recall that having the opportunity to go inside and walk through the U-505 was the high point of a thoroughly interesting and information packed day. Even at an average size child for that age range I remember thinking how tight the space of a submarine was. Thanks for the memories.

Great video! Thank you. I hope the Chicago museum will be smart enough to direct their visitors to this video for your in-depth review of the sub.

Chicagoland native here, very excited to see this pop up in my feed

Brought back memories. My family toured U-505 in 1978 if I remember right. My dad had served on U.S. fleet subs in the U.S.N.R between WW2 and Korea, so it was interesting to hear the differences between U-505 and the boats he had served on. Thanks for the tour!

My parents were born and raised in Chicago, and when we'd go back for visits one of the highlights of the trip for me was a visit to the Museum of Science and the U505. The museum itself, as well as several museums nearby and the grounds in which they are set, were built for the 1892 World's Fair, sometimes called the Columbian Expedition.