# U-505 Type IX U-Boot



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jun 24, 2015)

A few weeks ago went and visited the U-505. It is a Type IX U-Boot and is located at the Museum of Science and Transportation in Chicago.

Name: U-505
Ordered: 25 September 1939
Builder: Deutsche Werft AG, Hamburg
Laid down: 12 June 1940
Launched: 24 May 1941
Commissioned: 26 August 1941
Fate: Captured on 4 June 1944 by US Navy ships in the Atlantic.

Class and type: Type IXC submarine
Displacement: 1,120 t (1,100 long tons) surfaced 1,232 t (1,213 long tons) submerged
Length: 76.76 m (251 ft 10 in) overall 58.7 m (192 ft 7 in) pressure hull
Beam: 6.76 m (22 ft 2 in) overall 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) pressure hull
Height: 9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draft: 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in)
Propulsion: 2 MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged 9-cylinder diesel engines, 4,400 PS (4,300 shp; 3,200 kW) ,2 SSW 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors, 1,000 PS (990 shp; 740 kW)
Speed: 18.2 knots (33.7 km/h; 20.9 mph) surfaced 7.3 knots (13.5 km/h; 8.4 mph) submerged
Range: 13,450 nmi (24,910 km; 15,480 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced 64 nmi (119 km; 74 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth: 230 m (750 ft)
Complement: 48 to 56
Armament: 6 × torpedo tubes (four bow, two stern) 22 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedoes 1 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 deck gun (180 rounds) anti-aircraft guns

Operations: 12 patrols

Victories: Eight ships sunk for a total of 44,962 gross register tons (GRT)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-505


Here are some pics.

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## fubar57 (Jun 24, 2015)

They put a building around it?  Very very nice Alder. I would get the willies, the moment I climbed sown inside it.




Geo


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jun 24, 2015)

Yeah the pretty much lowered it into below the building. They recreated it to give you the feeling you where in an U-Boot pen.


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## meatloaf109 (Jun 24, 2015)

I saw the U-505 when she was still outside, around 1973 or so... rusty and weatherbeaten. Nice to see she is taken care of now!


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## Gnomey (Jun 25, 2015)

Lovely shots Chris! Thanks for sharing.


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## Wurger (Jun 25, 2015)

THX for sharing Chris !


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## Lucky13 (Jun 25, 2015)

Great pics man!!


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## FLYBOYJ (Jun 25, 2015)

8)


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## herman1rg (Jun 25, 2015)

Looks cosy inside........................


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## mikewint (Jun 25, 2015)

Chris, really nice pics. Its been many years since I've seen the U-505. They brought it to Chicago in 1954. Dad took us to see the arrival. They brought it from Portsmouth via the St. Lawrence across the Great Lakes and the Chicago River to within 800ft of the Museum. It was put on rails to get it to the museum. Across Jackson park to LSD. They had to close down Lake Shore Drive to get the sub across to its concrete pads . They posted signs that said "U-Boat Crossing". Don't remember when they opened it for viewing but in that simpler time before insurance companies became gods they but a simple metal stairway up to the deck where you could walk around the deck and climb down the actual deck hatches to walk around inside. In via the back hatch and out via the front. The conning tower was not open as I recall. There was a simple iron fence around the sub so you could always come free to see it. The outside location was nice and the sub was visible from a long way away but bad weather, hot weather, snow, ice, etc. limited the availability and 50 years of Chicago weather took it's toll on the metal

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## GregP (Jun 25, 2015)

Hey Adler,

Do they still have the Junkers Ju-87 hanging from the ceiling next to the short Boeing 727?

Last time I saw U-505, it was outdooors, too. Very glad thay have taken better care of it. Like all museums, it was probably a matter of money and volunteer time to get it done.


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## Airframes (Jun 25, 2015)

Great stuff Chris, and great additions there Mike.


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## mikewint (Jun 25, 2015)

For a while Chicago was home to two subs:
In 1947 the US Navy brought the USS Silversides submarine to the Great Lakes Naval Training base where it served as a training ship. It was decommissioned in 1969. A small dedicated group set out to restore the sub and in 1979 it was moved to Navy Pier to serve as a museum. By 1985 relations with the city and its mayor, Harold Washington had gotten so bad that the mayor had the park district slap an eviction notice on the sub, demanding $30,000 in back rent for the dock space. After 2 years of political in-fighting the sub was moved to Muskegon, MI where an entire museum is built around it. During the summer youth groups can book over-night stays on the sub
GregP- As of my last visit in 2012 Yes

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## T Bolt (Jun 25, 2015)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> Yeah the pretty much lowered it into below the building. They recreated it to give you the feeling you where in an U-Boot pen.



Not below the building Chris, they dug a pit in front of the museum that became the 'Sub Pen' and moved the U-505 from the back of the museum and lowered it into the pit then covered it over. Here's a cool time lapse video showing the move that took a five days:

_View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUuQIpVuhCg_
The subs new home is great but they reconfigured the entrance to the museum when they did it so now you enter from an underground parking garage. I use to love walking up all those big stairs to the old entrance when I was a kid. That museum is such a cool old building, the last survivor of the 1893 Worlds Fair

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## Crimea_River (Jun 25, 2015)

Very cool. That would be need to see.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jun 25, 2015)

GregP said:


> Hey Adler,
> 
> Do they still have the Junkers Ju-87 hanging from the ceiling next to the short Boeing 727?



Yes they do...


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## Wayne Little (Jun 26, 2015)

Great Pics !


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## tyrodtom (Jul 3, 2015)

I first went to that museum in 1958 or 59,

The Ju-87 was the first thing you saw when you went thru the main entrance, pointed right at you.

The sub was outside, a hole was cut in the side, and you could walk thru it.

They had a deck gun mounted on a concrete pad near the sub, I don't know if it was off the U-505 or not. 

But you could play with the deck gun, elevate it and transverse it, even kids were allowed to mess with it. The breech was locked , and closed. 
Can you imagine them doing that today ?


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## Gnomey (Jul 4, 2015)

Good stuff guys!


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## nuuumannn (Jul 4, 2015)

Very cool photos, Chris and Mike; having never seen this boat in the flesh, yet read about it many times in the past, it's great to see both of your images.

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## mikewint (Jul 4, 2015)

Nuuumannn, thanks, I was 8yo when the 505 arrived in Chicago and it was quite a sight on Jackson park beach. They closed LSD at night and brought it across. I thought it was pretty cool to see that as a kid. It took about a year or two before they opened it as an exhibit as the inside was a wreck. The Navy had gutted everything out of the inside and it had just sat in Bermuda for 10 years or so. That first year it opened, 1956, I think, the stairs led to the upper deck and you went down the subs back hatch and out the front. I guess a lot of people had problems with that so that's when the cut the big doorways in the side. It seemed more real outside the musuem.
1994 was when the 727 landed at Meigs field and was also brought across LSD to the museum, this time in the daylight.

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## tyrodtom (Jul 4, 2015)

The U-505 was very much a bad luck ship, had 4 or 5 aborted patrols, patrols cut short because of mechanical faults, possible sabotage.

While on her 10 patrol her commander, Kpt. Zschech, committed suicide while the U-505 was under depth charge attack. The only know instance of this ever happening in any navy.

I think morale on board might have been pretty low by time the patrol took place on which she was captured.


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## silence (Jul 30, 2015)

There's a pretty good (if old) book on her, U-505, by Daniel Gallery, the commander of the task force that captured her.

U-505: Daniel Gallery: 9780610545801: Amazon.com: Books


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## syscom3 (Jul 30, 2015)

I went to Chicago last week via Amtrak. Just to see the U505. A very well done exhibit.

And underneath the Stuka and Spitfire is monumentally huge model railroad.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jul 30, 2015)

syscom3 said:


> I went to Chicago last week via Amtrak. Just to see the U505. A very well done exhibit.
> 
> And underneath the Stuka and Spitfire is monumentally huge model railroad.



Should have said something. I might have been able to meet you.


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## syscom3 (Jul 30, 2015)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> Should have said something. I might have been able to meet you.



I didnt know you were in Chicago until now. I was only there one full day as the train ride was the primary reason I went.

will be back next year, thats for sure. Looks like theres a lot to see.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jul 30, 2015)

syscom3 said:


> I didnt know you were in Chicago until now. I was only there one full day as the train ride was the primary reason I went.
> 
> will be back next year, thats for sure. Looks like theres a lot to see.



I am not in Chicago, but I live about 3 hours away. We go to Chicago regularly on weekends just to hang out, museums, food, etc.


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## parsifal (Jul 31, 2015)

very cool stuff guys. nearest we ever got to this was a display of a Soviet era Whiskey class sub some years ago at the National maritime museum. There is a permanent display of an Oberon Class boat there as well. I spent some time on the Oberons as a trainee, was considering specialising in the submarine branch. I remember using the head was....interesting.

The guys that deployed with those diesel electrics always came back with serious vitamin D deficiencies and always smelt like a barrel of oil . not pleasant.


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## syscom3 (Jul 31, 2015)

DerAdlerIstGelandet ; I am planning to come back to Chicago next year. We need to meet up. I will let you know my plans well in advance.

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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jul 31, 2015)

syscom3 said:


> DerAdlerIstGelandet ; I am planning to come back to Chicago next year. We need to meet up. I will let you know my plans well in advance.



Yeah please do.


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