By Dylan McDonough
You may have gone to Chicago before. When I thought of Chicago, I immediately thought of a dark, smoky city with lots of cargo. Boy, was I wrong! Chicago is a very, very big city. We went there for my Dad’s birthday.
There are lots of things to see and do in Chicago. We spent one day at the Museum of Science and Industry.
There was an entire exhibit on the German submarine, U-505 which was captured by the Americans in World War II. We went on a tour inside the ship all the way through it with a really great tour guide.
Why is this submarine special, you may ask? Why is it in Chicago?
Captain Dan Gallery, Jr. from Chicago, graduated from the United States Naval Academy. For the first half of World War II, he commanded fliers that sank six U-boats. In September 1943, Gallery was appointed the commander of the USS Guadalcanal. In January 1944, 
he was involved in sinking three German submarines. Gallery began to think it would be possible to capture a U-boat. This would be a huge accomplishment because it and would let the Allies see German secrets, such as torpedo guidance systems, communication codes and the way U-boats do battle. Gallery ordered each ship in his Task Group to prepare a plan for capturing, boarding and towing a U-boat. Training was difficult as this had never been done before.
In May of 1944, The Task Group with Gallery in command set sail into the Atlantic with authorization to capture a U-boat, if possible.
While we were in the submarine, it was like we went back in time to that battle. The tour guide played audio to make it seem so real. We could hear the sonar of the American ships as they got closer to us. We
had to be completely silent so that the Americans overhead wouldn’t locate us. Depth charges exploded around us. Suddenly the power went out and it was dark! My eyes were as big as dish plates! We could hear the German captain and the crew shouting as water rushed in. It was hopeless. The Germans had to surface. When they did, they realized they were surrounded by American ships, including Daniel Gallery!
The U-505 was boarded by 9 Americans. It was incredibly dangerous. The U-boat was going in circles, she was flooding with seawater and was most likely rigged with explosive charges to prevent her capture.
Only one German soldier died in the capture. The Americans rescued the remaining 58 crew members from the sea.
The next difficult part was towing the U-boat to Bermuda so the U.S. Navy could study her military secrets. The trip covered 2,500 nautical miles – the longest tow of the war.
The German soldiers were held in Bermuda for several weeks as they waited for their P.O.W. (Prisoner of War) camp in Ruston, Louisiana. In general, the U-505 captives were treated very well at Camp Ruston. They were isolated from other prisoners, and the U.S. Navy took all letters they attempted to send out. This broke the rules of the Third Geneva Convention which said that P.O.W.s must be able to tell their family and the International Red Cross if they’ve been captured. It was extremely important to keep the U-505 capture a secret.
The U-505 P.O.W.s made several attempts to spread word of their capture. One night, they created balloons out of cellophane bags that they filled with hydrogen gas, which they had produced by mixing some cleaning chemicals together. After decorating the balloons with paper Iron Crosses and “U-505 lives!” the men released them into the air and watched them float over the camp’s fences.
The U-505 prisoners remained at Camp Ruston until the end of the war. The last of the captives returned home in 1947.
Other than the submarine, there were also lots of displays of what it was like to be in the submarine. For example, we saw one of the anti-aircraft guns. We also looked at torpedoes and the periscope.
If you like war history, then t
his exhibit would be perfect for you.
We also went to an exhibit called The Science Behind Pixar. We learned about the filmmaking process through hands-on activities inspired by some of Pixar’s films like Toy Story, Incredibles, Cars and Inside Out. There was one computer that showed Jessie’s face from 
Toy Story 2. We could change her emotions by moving her face image around. Here are some other cool facts: Toy Story was the world’s first feature length computer-animated movie. In Monsters, Inc., Sulley’s fur has 2.3 million hairs. From shiny and new to dirty and dusty, Lightning McQueen from Cars had 14 variations of virtual red paint.
I would highly recommend this museum to anyone. I hope to visit here again the next time we go to Chicago. This museum, having so many floors and great exhibits, will take many trips to truly see everything.
