On this day 70 years ago: US Navy captures U-505

If you are even in Chicago, I strongly urge that you visit the Museum of Science and Industry and the the U-505 exhibit. And if you saw it years ago, come back. The submarine has its own wing at the museum.

A submarine, U-505 was the first ship captured by the Navy since the War of 1812.

From ABC 7 Chicago:

World War II veteran Don Carter was there 70 years ago when the German U-boat on display at Chicago Museum of Science and Industry was captured.

In 1944, German submarines, called U-boats, would lie in wait in the Atlantic Ocean for ships bringing supplies to allied forces and then attack.

"Thirty-six thousand merchant sailors lost their lives. Thirty-five hundred merchant ships were sunk by German wolf packs," Kurt Haunfelner said.

The U.S. Navy turned the tide on U-boats by creating a special task group that's mission was to hunt down German U-boats. Carter was part of Task Group 223, which captured the U-505 off the coast of West Africa.

Along with the sub and the crew, sailors also capture encryption devices, code books, and torpedoes that were better than the American versions at the time. Analysis of those torpedoes helped improve ours.

The captured German sailors were brought to the United States--and in violation of the Geneva Convention--the Nazi government was not told of their status. Had we done that, the Germans would have ascertained that we learned discovered those secrets in the submarine.

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