German submarine U-505 (nonfiction)

Unterseeboot 505 shortly after being captured in 1944 by a task force headed by USS Guadalcanal off the coast of Africa.

U-505 is a German Type IXC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was captured by the U.S. Navy on June 4, 1944.

In her uniquely unlucky career with the Kriegsmarine, she had the distinction of being the "most heavily damaged U-boat to successfully return to port" in World War II (on her fourth patrol) and the only submarine in which a commanding officer took his own life in combat conditions (on her tenth patrol, following six botched patrols).

One of six U-boats that were captured by Allied forces during World War II, U-505 was the first warship captured by U.S. forces on the high seas since the War of 1812. She was captured on 4 June 1944 by United States Navy Task Group 22.3 (TG 22.3). All but one of U-505's crew were rescued by the Navy task group. The submarine was towed to Bermuda in secret and her crew was interned at a US prisoner-of-war camp where they were denied access to International Red Cross visits. The Navy classified the capture as top secret and prevented its discovery by the Germans. Her codebooks, Enigma machine, and other secret materials found on board helped the Allied codebreakers.

In 1954, U-505 was donated to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois. She is now one of four German World War II U-boats that survive as museum ships, and, along with U-534, just one of of two Type IXCs still in existence.

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Submarine (nonfiction)

External links:

• German submarine U-505 @ Wikipedia