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I wanted to put up a separate thread for this as I've been finding some more stuff that may be of interest to those who wish to visit the U 505:
Chicago Museum of Science and Industry - U 505
U-Bootwaffe.net Here you can type in the U-Boat's number to get an operational history and also the crew list.
U-Boat Archive - U 505 Chatelain Report
Arlington Cemetery - Daniel Vincent Gallery
Steel Boat - Iron Hearts by Hans Goebler
Hans Goebeler is known as the man who "pulled the plug" on U-505 in 1944 to keep his beloved U-boat out of Allied hands. Steel Boat, Iron Hearts is his no-holds-barred account of service aboard a combat U-boat. It is the only full-length memoir of its kind, and Goebeler was aboard for every one of U-505’s war patrols.
Using his own experiences, log books, and correspondence with other U-boat crewmen, Goebeler offers rich and very personal details about what life was like in the German Navy under Hitler. Because his first and last posting was to U-505, Goebeler’s perspective of the crew, commanders, and war patrols paints a vivid and complete portrait unlike any other to come out of the Kriegsmarine. He witnessed it all: from deadly sabotage efforts that almost sunk the boat to the tragic suicide of the only U-boat commander who took his life during WWII; from the terror and exhilaration of hunting the enemy, to the seedy brothels of France. The vivid, honest, and smooth-flowing prose calls it like it was and pulls no punches.
U-505 was captured by Captain Dan Gallery’s Guadalcanal Task Group 22.3 on June 4, 1944. Trapped by this "Hunter-Killer" group, U-505 was depth-charged to the surface, strafed by machine gun fire, and boarded. It was the first ship captured at sea since the War of 1812! Today, hundreds of thousands of visitors tour U-505 each year at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.
Included a special Introduction by Keith Gill, Curator of U-505, Museum of Science and Industry.
About the Authors: Hans Jacob Goebeler served as control room mate aboard U-505. He died in 1999. John P. Vanzo is a former defense program analyst. He teaches political science and geography at Bainbridge College in Georgia.
Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea by Daniel Gallery
IIn June 1944, U.S. Navy Task Group 22.3, a “hunter-killer” force commanded by Daniel Gallery to track down German submarines, boarded and captured U-505 off the coast of Africa. It was the first time that an enemy ship of war had been captured on the high seas by U.S. Navy sailors since 1815, when the USS Peacock seized HMS Nautilus as part of the War of 1812. The extraordinary feat is described in gripping narrative by Gallery himself, who chronicles the long and arduous battle against the German U-boat under the most hazardous conditions. Once they succeeded in capturing and towing their prize seventeen-hundred miles across the Atlantic Ocean, U-505 proved to be of inestimable value, yielding secrets to radio codes among other things. U-505 is now on exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.
Incidentally Admiral Dan Gallery also had spoken out against the conviction of Doenitz - an excerpt from his book:
"When the statesmen louse up their job so badly that they have to have the military men pull the chestnuts out of the fire for them, a lot of innocent bystanders are going to get hurt. When nations, by mutual consent, decide to ignore the commandment 'Thou shalt no kill,' it is very difficult for the military leaders to restrict the killing to just the right people.
"You might think that since our submarines fought the same way the Germans did, we would sweep the question of Prize Warfare under the rug after the war and say no more about violation of the laws of war at sea. Our naval officers were perfectly willing to do this, but our statesmen and lawyers were vindictive. When the war was over, they insisted on trying the German Admirals Raeder and Doenitz at Nuremburg as war criminals for permitting their submarines to do exactly what ours did. A justice of our Supreme Court prosecuted them and tried to hang them. To our eternal shame, we convicted the German admirals of violating the laws of war at sea and sentenced them to long terms of imprisonment: Raeder to life; and Doenitz to ten years.
"This kangaroo court at Nuremburg was officialy known as the 'International Military Tribunal'. That name is a libel on the military profession. The tribunal was not a military one in any sense. The only military men among the judges were the Russians. Some military titles are listed on the staffs of the secretariat and prosecution counsel, but these belong to a lot of lawyers temporarily masquerading in uniform as military men.
"Nuremburg was, in fact, a lawyers' tribunal, although I can readily understand why the legal profession is ashamed to claim it, and deliberately stuck a false label on it.
"I'm glad our real military men had nothing to do with the travesty on justice that the lawyers and 'statesmen' conducted at Nuremburg. Raeder and Doenitz simply did their duty to their country in World War II, trying to straighten out the mess that their politicians got them into as all military men are sworn to do. Our politicians and lawyers set a rather stupid precedent when they tried these officers for carrying out the orders of their own misguided politicians.
"Actually the decision to court-martial the German military brass was on a par with the 'unconditional surrender' blunder, which prolonged rather than shortened the war. From now on, Nuremburg gives enemy military leaders good reason for fighting to the last bullet and dying in the trenches rather than trying to negotiate surrender of a hopelessly lost cause. There certainly is no use in surrendering if you know you will be hauled up before a kangaroo court and hanged, as most defendants were at Nuremburg.
"Even today, few people realize that the German Navy, in the last days of the war, evacuated several times as many refugees from East Prussia as the British Navy took out from Dunkirk. As soon as Doenitz got his people to safety in West Germany, he surrendered - but one of the charges on which our Supreme Court prosecutor tried to hang him was that he prolonged the war!
"Had the German people seen fit to try their own military leaders for losing the war, I might go along with that. Or if our statesmen had insisted on hanging the Nazi politicians and had felt that a mock trial was necessary before doing it, I could see the logic in that. But our politicians and lawyers were undermining their own authority when they convicted the German generals and admirals. After all, one thing the much maligned military brass must do, in a democracy as well as a dictatorship, is to swallow their convictions, if any, and do as they are told by the politicians...
"At Nuremburg, mankind and our present civilization were on trial, with men whose own hands were bloody sitting on the judges' seats. One of the judges came from the country which committed the Katyn Forest massacre and produced an array of witnesses to swear at Nuremburg that the Germans had done it. Maybe crimes of such magnitude as those charged at Nuremburg should be left to the Last Judgement for punishment.
"The outstanding example of barefaced hypocrisy at Nuremburg was the trial of Admiral Doenitz. We tried him on three charges: (1) Conspiring to wage aggressive war; (2) Waging aggressive war; and (3) Violation of the laws of war at sea. Even the loaded court at Nuremburg acquitted him of the first charge, but convicted him of the other two. How in the name of common sense a military officer can wage any kind of war except an aggressive one without being a traitor to his country, I'll never know. I took an oath when I entered the U.S. Navy almost forty years ago, to defend the United States against all enemies - and there wasn't anything said about doing it in a non-aggressive manner...If the Nuremburg evidence had shown that Doenitz waged a non-aggressive war, the German people themselves would have been entitled to hang him.
"Doenitz's conviction on charge three - violation of the laws of war at sea - was an insult to our own submariners. Admiral Doenitz requested early in the trial that our own Admiral Nimitz be summoned as a witness in his defense to testify about how our subs operated in the Pacific. Our Supreme Court prosecutor had to hem and haw and back water fast when that hot potato was tossed at him. Admiral Nimitz (God bless him for the honest seafaring man that he was) finally submitted a sworn statement, answering questions put to him by Doenitz's counsel and said that our submarines in the Pacific waged unrestricted warfare the same as the Germans did in the Atlantic.
"Despite this, we convicted Admiral Doenitz on the charge of violating the laws of war at sea. If the old gentleman ever gets out of jail, I hope I never meet him. I would have trouble looking him in the eye. The only crime he committed was that of almost beating us in a bloody but 'legal' fight.
"Doenitz's conviction for violating the laws of war in carrying out the orders of his government, raises a serious question. We have just promulgated a Code of Conduct for our fighting men, designed to steel them against brainwashing if captured, and thus protect them from prosecution in our own courts for improper conduct while prisoners of war. Perhaps, to protect our soldiers from prosecution by tribunals like Nuremburg, we should amend the oath of allegiance that they take when they enter the service. After what we did to Doenitz, maybe we should add a proviso to the oath saying, 'Before carrying out the orders of your superior officers, I will check to insure that they are compatible with our international commitments, the Charter of the United Nations, etc., etc.'
"The only precedent set at Nuremburg in which I take any stock at all is that they didn't hang any admirals!
"The Nuremburg trials placed a solemn stamp of approval on a code of war at sea which we not only didn't follow ourselves in World War II, but which may embarrass us in the future. We are, at present, busily engaged in building atomic submarines designed to remain submerged for weeks at a times. It is absurd to think that these submarines will expose themselves on the surface to follow the archaic code of sailing ships, which we confirmed as being the law of war at sea for the atomic age when we threw Doenitz in jail.
"Lest there be any mistake about how I feel on this matter, I hasten to say I am not in favor of actually trying to follow Prize Rules with atomic submarines. I'm in favor of denouncing pacts which can't be followed in war time and of announcing what everybody knows anyway: that in case we are attacked, we will defend ourselves with every weapon in our arsenal."
Chicago Museum of Science and Industry - U 505
U-Bootwaffe.net Here you can type in the U-Boat's number to get an operational history and also the crew list.
U-Boat Archive - U 505 Chatelain Report
Arlington Cemetery - Daniel Vincent Gallery
Steel Boat - Iron Hearts by Hans Goebler
Hans Goebeler is known as the man who "pulled the plug" on U-505 in 1944 to keep his beloved U-boat out of Allied hands. Steel Boat, Iron Hearts is his no-holds-barred account of service aboard a combat U-boat. It is the only full-length memoir of its kind, and Goebeler was aboard for every one of U-505’s war patrols.
Using his own experiences, log books, and correspondence with other U-boat crewmen, Goebeler offers rich and very personal details about what life was like in the German Navy under Hitler. Because his first and last posting was to U-505, Goebeler’s perspective of the crew, commanders, and war patrols paints a vivid and complete portrait unlike any other to come out of the Kriegsmarine. He witnessed it all: from deadly sabotage efforts that almost sunk the boat to the tragic suicide of the only U-boat commander who took his life during WWII; from the terror and exhilaration of hunting the enemy, to the seedy brothels of France. The vivid, honest, and smooth-flowing prose calls it like it was and pulls no punches.
U-505 was captured by Captain Dan Gallery’s Guadalcanal Task Group 22.3 on June 4, 1944. Trapped by this "Hunter-Killer" group, U-505 was depth-charged to the surface, strafed by machine gun fire, and boarded. It was the first ship captured at sea since the War of 1812! Today, hundreds of thousands of visitors tour U-505 each year at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.
Included a special Introduction by Keith Gill, Curator of U-505, Museum of Science and Industry.
About the Authors: Hans Jacob Goebeler served as control room mate aboard U-505. He died in 1999. John P. Vanzo is a former defense program analyst. He teaches political science and geography at Bainbridge College in Georgia.
Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea by Daniel Gallery
IIn June 1944, U.S. Navy Task Group 22.3, a “hunter-killer” force commanded by Daniel Gallery to track down German submarines, boarded and captured U-505 off the coast of Africa. It was the first time that an enemy ship of war had been captured on the high seas by U.S. Navy sailors since 1815, when the USS Peacock seized HMS Nautilus as part of the War of 1812. The extraordinary feat is described in gripping narrative by Gallery himself, who chronicles the long and arduous battle against the German U-boat under the most hazardous conditions. Once they succeeded in capturing and towing their prize seventeen-hundred miles across the Atlantic Ocean, U-505 proved to be of inestimable value, yielding secrets to radio codes among other things. U-505 is now on exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.
Incidentally Admiral Dan Gallery also had spoken out against the conviction of Doenitz - an excerpt from his book:
"When the statesmen louse up their job so badly that they have to have the military men pull the chestnuts out of the fire for them, a lot of innocent bystanders are going to get hurt. When nations, by mutual consent, decide to ignore the commandment 'Thou shalt no kill,' it is very difficult for the military leaders to restrict the killing to just the right people.
"You might think that since our submarines fought the same way the Germans did, we would sweep the question of Prize Warfare under the rug after the war and say no more about violation of the laws of war at sea. Our naval officers were perfectly willing to do this, but our statesmen and lawyers were vindictive. When the war was over, they insisted on trying the German Admirals Raeder and Doenitz at Nuremburg as war criminals for permitting their submarines to do exactly what ours did. A justice of our Supreme Court prosecuted them and tried to hang them. To our eternal shame, we convicted the German admirals of violating the laws of war at sea and sentenced them to long terms of imprisonment: Raeder to life; and Doenitz to ten years.
"This kangaroo court at Nuremburg was officialy known as the 'International Military Tribunal'. That name is a libel on the military profession. The tribunal was not a military one in any sense. The only military men among the judges were the Russians. Some military titles are listed on the staffs of the secretariat and prosecution counsel, but these belong to a lot of lawyers temporarily masquerading in uniform as military men.
"Nuremburg was, in fact, a lawyers' tribunal, although I can readily understand why the legal profession is ashamed to claim it, and deliberately stuck a false label on it.
"I'm glad our real military men had nothing to do with the travesty on justice that the lawyers and 'statesmen' conducted at Nuremburg. Raeder and Doenitz simply did their duty to their country in World War II, trying to straighten out the mess that their politicians got them into as all military men are sworn to do. Our politicians and lawyers set a rather stupid precedent when they tried these officers for carrying out the orders of their own misguided politicians.
"Actually the decision to court-martial the German military brass was on a par with the 'unconditional surrender' blunder, which prolonged rather than shortened the war. From now on, Nuremburg gives enemy military leaders good reason for fighting to the last bullet and dying in the trenches rather than trying to negotiate surrender of a hopelessly lost cause. There certainly is no use in surrendering if you know you will be hauled up before a kangaroo court and hanged, as most defendants were at Nuremburg.
"Even today, few people realize that the German Navy, in the last days of the war, evacuated several times as many refugees from East Prussia as the British Navy took out from Dunkirk. As soon as Doenitz got his people to safety in West Germany, he surrendered - but one of the charges on which our Supreme Court prosecutor tried to hang him was that he prolonged the war!
"Had the German people seen fit to try their own military leaders for losing the war, I might go along with that. Or if our statesmen had insisted on hanging the Nazi politicians and had felt that a mock trial was necessary before doing it, I could see the logic in that. But our politicians and lawyers were undermining their own authority when they convicted the German generals and admirals. After all, one thing the much maligned military brass must do, in a democracy as well as a dictatorship, is to swallow their convictions, if any, and do as they are told by the politicians...
"At Nuremburg, mankind and our present civilization were on trial, with men whose own hands were bloody sitting on the judges' seats. One of the judges came from the country which committed the Katyn Forest massacre and produced an array of witnesses to swear at Nuremburg that the Germans had done it. Maybe crimes of such magnitude as those charged at Nuremburg should be left to the Last Judgement for punishment.
"The outstanding example of barefaced hypocrisy at Nuremburg was the trial of Admiral Doenitz. We tried him on three charges: (1) Conspiring to wage aggressive war; (2) Waging aggressive war; and (3) Violation of the laws of war at sea. Even the loaded court at Nuremburg acquitted him of the first charge, but convicted him of the other two. How in the name of common sense a military officer can wage any kind of war except an aggressive one without being a traitor to his country, I'll never know. I took an oath when I entered the U.S. Navy almost forty years ago, to defend the United States against all enemies - and there wasn't anything said about doing it in a non-aggressive manner...If the Nuremburg evidence had shown that Doenitz waged a non-aggressive war, the German people themselves would have been entitled to hang him.
"Doenitz's conviction on charge three - violation of the laws of war at sea - was an insult to our own submariners. Admiral Doenitz requested early in the trial that our own Admiral Nimitz be summoned as a witness in his defense to testify about how our subs operated in the Pacific. Our Supreme Court prosecutor had to hem and haw and back water fast when that hot potato was tossed at him. Admiral Nimitz (God bless him for the honest seafaring man that he was) finally submitted a sworn statement, answering questions put to him by Doenitz's counsel and said that our submarines in the Pacific waged unrestricted warfare the same as the Germans did in the Atlantic.
"Despite this, we convicted Admiral Doenitz on the charge of violating the laws of war at sea. If the old gentleman ever gets out of jail, I hope I never meet him. I would have trouble looking him in the eye. The only crime he committed was that of almost beating us in a bloody but 'legal' fight.
"Doenitz's conviction for violating the laws of war in carrying out the orders of his government, raises a serious question. We have just promulgated a Code of Conduct for our fighting men, designed to steel them against brainwashing if captured, and thus protect them from prosecution in our own courts for improper conduct while prisoners of war. Perhaps, to protect our soldiers from prosecution by tribunals like Nuremburg, we should amend the oath of allegiance that they take when they enter the service. After what we did to Doenitz, maybe we should add a proviso to the oath saying, 'Before carrying out the orders of your superior officers, I will check to insure that they are compatible with our international commitments, the Charter of the United Nations, etc., etc.'
"The only precedent set at Nuremburg in which I take any stock at all is that they didn't hang any admirals!
"The Nuremburg trials placed a solemn stamp of approval on a code of war at sea which we not only didn't follow ourselves in World War II, but which may embarrass us in the future. We are, at present, busily engaged in building atomic submarines designed to remain submerged for weeks at a times. It is absurd to think that these submarines will expose themselves on the surface to follow the archaic code of sailing ships, which we confirmed as being the law of war at sea for the atomic age when we threw Doenitz in jail.
"Lest there be any mistake about how I feel on this matter, I hasten to say I am not in favor of actually trying to follow Prize Rules with atomic submarines. I'm in favor of denouncing pacts which can't be followed in war time and of announcing what everybody knows anyway: that in case we are attacked, we will defend ourselves with every weapon in our arsenal."
