Day 94: Gallery's Gift to Chicago

     On June 6, 1944, the Allies invaded France and triggered the downfall of the Nazi regime.  But that's not the story I'm telling here.  2 days earlier, the USS Guadalcanal was leading Naval Task Group 22.3 off the coast of Africa.  22.3 was part of a program instituted by the Navy to help combat the problem of U-Boats by finding and destroying them.  Task Group 22.3 was commanded by Captain Daniel V. Gallery, and had already experienced a measure of success, having sunk 2 U-Boats in just over a month's time.  After the second successful attack, Gallery started to wonder if they just might be able to capture a U-Boat instead of sending it to the bottom of the ocean, since U-Boats contained invaluable intelligence, including code books listing the current Enigma encryptions being used by the Nazis at that time.  Thus, Gallery assembled boarding parties from the Group so that they might try to capture a sub upon their next encounter.

      Their chance came on June 4, when 2 airplanes attached to the Group spotted the U-505 returning to its home port in France.  Immediately 22.3 sprung into full attack mode, submerging depth charges and successfully forcing the sub to the surface, at which point the destroyers used their guns to chase the Germans off of the boat.  At that point, Captain Gallery ordered his well-drilled boarding parties to take the sub.  This move was not without risk, as standard procedure for a sub crew to abandon ship included opening up the sub to let the ocean in, as well as setting timed charges to blow up the boat.  Luckily, the crew of the U-505 had abandoned ship with such haste, that only some of the charges had been set(but the portholes were opened up).  After closing off the ocean and defusing the remaining charges, the boarding party immediately set about gathering up intelligence from the boat.  The Group then set sail for Bermuda, the U-505 in tow behind them.  Upon arrival, the boat was examined by the Navy in Bermuda, and the crew was transferred to a POW camp in Louisiana for the duration of the war.

     After the war, the Navy had no further use for the sub and strongly considered using it for target practice.  It was at this point that Daniel Gallery, who was by this point an admiral(and was originally from the Chicago area) told his brother of the planned scuttling.  Gallery's brother spoke to Lenox Lohr, the President of the Museum of Science and Industry(the same place that also currently exhibits the Pioneer Zephyr).  The Museum had already planned a submarine exhibit, and the timing couldn't have been better.  The Navy donated the sub to the Museum, and money was raised to find the transport, which took place through the Great Lakes.  The boat was officially dedicated as a museum ship and war memorial at the Museum on September 25, 1954.  For the next 50 years, the sub sat outside, facing all the elements that 50 years of Chicago weather could throw at it.  Finally, MSI constructed a new underground exhibit hall that was fully climate controlled.  The new space opened to the public on June 5, 2005, and remains as both a memorial to the gallantry of Gallery and his men, as well as the only U-Boat that is displayed in the United States of America.