[Sledgehammer427]

I live 3 hours away from Chicago and the U-505 and I visit every couple of years.
(in retrospect, Rockford, halfway from here to Chicago, is less congested and usually the alternative.((Thanks to the mall))
But when I visited last time I was disappointed. You can't walk through the whole boat and it's all under tourguide. you can't simply roam through the boat OR go up on the bridge...perhaps they don't want any visitors seeing the bulletholes? The tourguides are well versed on the boats history (the last time I went I was with a fellow subsimmer and we were going to be smart and show the guy up if he got any of the technical specifications wrong)
The tour spent a lot of time in the control room and there was a simulated depth charge attack (simulated meaning the tourguide would hang onto the conning tower ladder and shake himself everytime the lights flickered, explaining to the layman the horrors of being in the boat during such an attack)
But really, the only reason I'm truly disappointed in my last visit is because everything's practically automated (from my viewpoint anyhow) and you really don't get a feel for what it was like to be in a U-boat. they even cut into the bilges into the engine room! while they blast the sounds of a running diesel engine out of the main induction opening. I'm 6'3" and I'd rather risk whacking my head on a pipe than have to walk somewhere the sailors didn't usually walk.

after all that bitching though, it IS worth seeing, just don't expect much from the submarine itself. the rest of the exhibit is incredible, with torpedoes and even a "dive trainer" with the planesman's stations laid out and a depth gauge. the scenarios vary and I feel bad for only going through one. There is a conning tower simulator, with an observation peri trainer (identifying landmarks and such) and an attack scope trainer (conducting an attack on a convoy, watch out for how you put in the AOB setting, my friend and I both had dead misses on one of those targets, couldn't figure out why.) there's a lot of artifacts that were pulled off the boat and sent to the museum (including an enigma machine if memory serves me right)


I was disappointed by the boat but altogether it's deffo worth the visit!