Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
Wednesday, 29th March 2006 by James Turnbull
Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry is home to many exhibits including a coal mine, a 3,500 square foot model railway and the U-505, which can be seen in the middle of the thumbnail below.
Captured off the coast of West Africa in 1944, the U-505 is the only WWII German submarine that was successfully captured by the United States. This was apparently quite a feat as the departing crew had, as they were trained to do, set timebombs and opened up water holes in an attempt to scuttle the sub.
Thanks: Chris, The Peter Files, Chad, Denis & Ross Wirth.
Did someone call for a limo?
View Placemark
I wonder if that is the same U Boat that the USA so bravely and skilfully captured that contained the Enigma machine that they bravely and skilfully liberated and from which they bravely and skillfully broke the ULTRA code which enabled the USA to bravely and skifully win the Second World War single handedly? I know this to be true because they made a film about it.
Who said sarcasm was the lowest form of wit?
listen just cause the birts couldn’t win without the colonies they lost 200 years ago doesn’t mean you have to hate us
The overhead is out of date – the sub is now indoors. There’s a pretty cool video you can watch in the museum showing how they moved it from the place in the shot to its new home.
NO, NO, and NO. Break it up, guys, before you get into the Nazis. This is called Godwin’s Law, am I right?
I suspect that the dig was at the US film industry and their somewhat fictionalised account of various happenings in WWII, rather than at the Americans in general. In particular the film U-571 was a complete fabrication presented as fact.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-571_(film)
The cool thing about the Science and Industry is that it’s the last remaining building from the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. The pond to the south of the museum was surrounded by gigantic buildings that dwarfed what is now the Science and Industry. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Columbian_Exposition
The excellent non-fiction book Devil in the White City tells the parallel stories of the brilliant architect who designed the Exposition and the bloodthirsty serial killer who preyed on its visitors.
What the hell is that? an explosion?? View Placemark
want an Enigma machine?
now you can bet in e-bay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6265092168&ruhttp%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26satitle%3D6265092168%26fvi%3D1
WHERE DO YOU LIVE COOKIE MOSTER
Mel has seen through my cynicism! Nigerache – i live in a place called Bletchley Park and my real name is Alan Turing. Google me and you’ll see what i’m on about.
A captured German sub from the FIRST World war, the UC 97, which was sunk off the shores of shores of Chicago after a tour of the Great lakes, is supposedly in the midst of a raising. Last I heard it was to be put on dispay at the Museum of Science and Industry alongside the U-505. http://www.atrecovery.com/PDF/u-boat.htm
A sub in the Great lakes? Thatd be some kind of accomplishment, considering itd have to go through the very tight (and shallow) squeeze of the locks, or sail UP niagra falls.
Well the UC 97 was considerably smaller than the later WWII subs. Quoting the article posted above the UC 97 was “185 feet in length, weighed 491 tons while surfaced, and had a crew of 32. By comparison, the U-505, manufactured some 20 years later, was 252 feet long, weighed 1,120 tons and had a crew of 59.” Plus this was in the teens when the locks could have been different than they are now.
Having said that, submarines in the Great Lakes weren’t really an uncommon occurance considering the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company of Wisconsin produced 28 commissioned submarines, during WWII that were moved through the lakes, down the Chicago River, to the Illinois River, to the Mississippi River, and eventually to New Orleans.
I googled you and it said you are a dead writer… sounds impressive
or wait if you want you could be the philosopher and mathematician Alan Turing whitch is it?
If i stood on a very large box i wouldn’t even come close to ankles of this giant of a man.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_turing
It was a bit of a circuitous reference but this man does not the credit it rightly deserves.
The Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company is still around, btw. On a boat trip a couple of years back, we stayed in the harbor where one of their yards is on our way to Chicago. They build (or are a builder of) and do overhauls on the Staten Island ferries. They had two when I was there, one under construction and one looking like it was getting overhauled. If you’re a New Yorker, they make the Kennedy Class ferries, which are 310′ long. When I posted my trip photos, my friends were a little freaked out, asking how the heck we got from NYC to Chicago in three days.
There are a three ways (that I’m aware of) to get into the Great Lakes from the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. The route down to the Gulf of Mexico that Chicago mentioned is one, although due to the decommisioning of a drawbridge, large ships starting in Chicago can’t use it. Another uses the NY state canal system to get to the Atlantic, but it has height restrictions.
The Saint Lawrence Seaway is the other way, which also leads to the Atlantic. Niagara Falls has a shipping canal (the Welland) that bypasses the falls. I would guess this is the route used for the ships the Manitowoc company builds for the Coast Guard and the NYC ferry system.
The UC-97, btw, used the Saint Lawrence Canal System (now the Seaway).
y r u all on soo freakin early?????
You can see time-lapse videos of the move of the sub here:
http://www.msichicago.org/exhibit/U505/exhibit/a_restoration/03_timelapse.html
Pretty amazing!