U-505 Visit Pictures

[Ironclad2]

This summer I was doing some work at Fermilab, a physics lab outside of Chicago, and during my summer made a pilgrimage to the U-505 exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. While I'm sure most of you know the story of her better than I do, I thought I'd post some of my photos from the visit for everyone to see. If you search "U-505" in the forums, you can also find information on her, and a link to the museum's virtual tour of the inside of the sub.

Since the interior was partially "re-done" with "special effects" (sounds and flashing lights as the tour guide recites a monologue), and is thus considered an artist's intellectual property, I couldn't take pictures of the inside.

First, the view of her as you enter the exhibit, from the bow looking aft. She was previously outdoors, and the elements were having an affect, so the vessel was moved inside, with the exhibit surriounding. You can see a tour group about to enter through a door that's been cut into the port hull.





A view of the conning tower, showing some battle damage. After she was forced to the surface, fighters from the aircraft carrier in the allied strike group carried out a few strafing runs. The first man out of the hatch was the only casualty during the operation.



A view of the twin screws, rudders, and aft torpedo tubes, one with outer doors open.



Real versions of some familier pieces of tin from SHIII



A piston from one of her diesels. For scale, the description to the left is about the same size as a piece of standard letter paper.



View of the bow, with a recently-fired shot. When she was captured, U-505 had aboard a few of the new German acoustic-homing torpedoes. At this point in the war, the Allies didn't even know the Kriegsmarine had such weapons yet.



A view of her underside, showing the "sonar dome".



A one-man life raft. If you thought the U-boat was cramped... (At 6'0", I would have to sit knees-to-chin to fit inside)



Closer view of the screw

[STEED]

Lucky sod.

Thank you for those great pictures.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Nice pics


RDP

[Ironclad2]

A close up of the aft torpedo tube with outer door open. This really shows the effects of more than a decade of being stored outside. She has a fresh coat of paint, and was restored to be structurally-sound enough to let visitors walk through, but there are many spots like this where the rust and decay are apparent.



Caffeinated chocolate, for nights on watch!



Side view of the conning tower, with the commander's ensign.



A cross-section view of the pressure hull and exterior, as seen wile entering to take the tour (the tourguide chewed me out, especially after his "no pictures of the interior" talk). There's no good indicator of scale, but the pressure hull couldn't have been more than 1.5cm thick.

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Artists intellectual property my ass.

You should've said "I'm not inside yet. You should say "No pictures within the pressure hull" :p

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Kapitan_Phillips

Artists intellectual property my ass.

You should've said "I'm not inside yet. You should say "No pictures within the pressure hull" :p

no photos inside???? WTF that's BS

How's that?
Ol' mcbee saves the day.

[August]

FYI the man who captured her, Admiral Daniel Gallery, is an accomplished writer. Besides "20,000 tons under the sea", the story of the U-505, which iirc is still sold at the museum gift shop he also wrote several books on navy life after the war. They're out of print now but if you run across a copy in a used book store pick it up. They're all good reads.

[nikimcbee]

more from the secret innards of the U-505.

[nikimcbee]

...and they need to dump the tour guide.

[HunterICX]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

...and they need to dump the tour guide.

Indeed, in a Museum I like to walk my phase
and dont need a babbling tour guide who is rushing the tour around.

HunterICX

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by HunterICX

Indeed, in a Museum I like to walk my phase
and dont need a babbling tour guide who is rushing the tour around.

HunterICX

They're not always bad!

When I toured the Soviet D-2 in St. Petersburg (pictures of which I showed before), the tour guide was a retired diesel sub captain. He absolutely loved the boat and the job too I suppose, and his personal experience really showed all through the tour.

But I guess when the tour guide is just a hired hand without much interest in subs, who's basically reciting a script - maybe not so cool. :hmm:

[Jimbuna]

Great photos Thanks for sharing

[SmokinTep]

Good to see she is inside a building now. Last time I went there, she was outside.

[sunvalleyslim]

outstanding photos.........Makes me want to get to Chicago and take the tour. About the only thing I would want to go to Chicago for............

[Ironclad2]

Originally Posted by HunterICX

Indeed, in a Museum I like to walk my phase
and dont need a babbling tour guide who is rushing the tour around.

HunterICX

I did write the museum a note about this. My suggestion was to give people a hand-held audio tour (the USS Nautilus tour used to use this) so that people would hear the history, but could also hang out longer in a compartment if they wanted. However, I imagine their reasons for doing the guided tour were a.) in a cramped U-boat it's necessary to keep people moving, else it gets very crowded very quickly; and b.) money. The exhibit was free, but the tour was an extra $5. Worth it once, not worth it twice, especially when the tour guides didn't know much more about the U-boats than was in the script for the tour.

Oh, and Kapitan_Phillips, that's precisely what I said. :p