My U-505 Visit

[LukeFF]

Two weeks ago I was in the Chicago area for a friend's wedding, so naturally I took some time to see the U-505 exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. The four friends of mine who came along with me were, thankfully, not bored by the exhibit, so we spent a fair amount of time in there. Other than the "no photography" rule inside the sub, the exhibit is really well-done. The amount of history related to the Battle of the Atlantic in this one exhibit truly is fascinating.

As for inside the boat itself, it truly is amazing how cramped these U-boats were, even with this being a Type IX. Even the bunks are small (they looked to be about 65" long at the most). Compared to the U-2540, the interior of this sub looked minuscule in comparison.

Some pics. The camera I was using is fairly lousy, so pardon the lighting. One of my friends took much better photos, so I'll be able to share those soon:





U-505's Anchor



One of the twin barrel 20mm AA guns.



Life raft.



One of the diesel pistons.



Various artifacts taken from the boat.



UZO, torpedo gyroscope, and a U-Jagd chronometer.





Body and tail of a TV Wren homing torpedo. The black bands at the tail formed part of the detonation mechanism.



The rebel in me decided to sneak in a photo of the diesel compartment while the tour guide wasn't looking. This is looking forward towards the control room.