Customer Reviews

U-505: The Final Journey

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The story of the U-505 has been told numerous times, but never quite like this. Author/historian Jim Wise has written an exceptional work - with a superb collection of photographs - that should be in the library of anyone interested in the Second World War.

We saw the sub at the MSI and was a great to see it in person, so you can feel like you we part of it, what they went throu and how they live,

We did not buy the book why there and my husband wanted it so looking for it Amazon.com was the only site we found that had the book we wanted. U 505 was a great book for everyone...........

After visiting the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, I was interested to firnd out more about the capture of the U-505. U-505:The Final Journey is well written and reviews the history of U-505 and its officers and crew setting the stage for its capture by Task Force 22.3. The background on Commander Robert Gallery who wanted to capture a U-Boat and how the US Navy accomplished it is amazing and good reading. The heroism of the sailors boarding the 505 and how they figured out how to keep from sinking and then making the sub seaworthy for the trip to Bermuda is most interesting and quite amazing. So is the story of how 505 ended up in Chicago. Beautifully produced, The Final Journey is a must for anyone interested in US Naval history.

This account of the Battle of the Atlanctic provides valuable background about the situation for establishment of the submarine arm prior to WWII, and the political and scientific developments that had a such great influence on the outcome of the Battle. It could have benefited from more pictures and diagrams, but still well worth reading.

The type IX U-Boat was the larger, long range boat developed by the German Navy for operations in more distant areas such as the American East and Gulf coasts. The U-505 built in Hamburg was launched on May 24, 1941. She was not a lucky boat. While she made several war patrols with modest success, she aborted several patrols to return to port with one kind of problem after another. She was so unlucky that on June 4th of 1944 (two days before D-Day) she was captured just off the coast of Africa. She was the first ship captured by the American Navy since the War of 1812.

After capture the U-505 was taken into the American Navy and made several tours to Atlantic and Gulf ports to promote the sale of War Bonds.

Finally she was towed three thousand miles to the mouth of the St. Lawrence, across four of the great lakes to Chicago. There she was made a part of the permanent display of the Museum of Science and Industry. Remodeled to war time condition, the U-505 now sits in a specially constructed building to create a U-Boat experience dedicated to the people who fought the Battle of the Atlantic.