America Stole A German Submarine And Stuck It In Chicago

Sorry video was a day late this week.

I was once, about 15 years ago, on a plane with an elderly gentleman named “Steve.” He told me a story of how he went on a tour of that boat, and the tour guide spoke with a German accent. The guide spoke competently about crew routines, how they lived day to day, and how they operated. Steve stuck around to talk to the guide and asked how he could possibly know so much. The guide responded “I was a radioman on this boat when it was captured.”

UK: "So you stole the sub and put it in a museum?" USA: "Well... I learned it by watching you." UK: "Im so proud."

"Not only are you not allowed to sink your own ship Your not even allowed to rage quit and the us is about to joyride your fucking submarine through the Bermuda triangle Im literally crying laughing

When I started as a merchant sailor I heard a story that I didn't believe at first but turned out to be true. Back in WW2 merchant sailors on the Atlantic run would sometimes sneak off the ship and join the Marines... because it was safer. The merchant fleet had a higher loss of men than all 3 branches of the military combined over the length of the war. To this day we STILL wonder why we're not allowed to be armed.

The whole of WW2 was just America dropping UNLIMITED amounts of disrespect. And i love it

Seabees: "We robbed a train." USS Barb: "Ha. We blew up a train." TF 22.3: "That's adorable. We blew up, salvaged, and stole a submarine!"

Love that comment at 15:05 "Where it sits as a proud member of the second largest navy on the planet: America's fleet of museum ships." XD

@the_fat_electrician I met one of the crew that carried out this mission. He was a really great guy named Rex Moore, and he lived in Van Meter, IA. When I was in 8th grade I interviewed him for an English project. His story was basically the same as yours. That the Germans tried to sink it but "we didn't let them." He said they hooked a chain to it and drug it across the ocean. They were pretty happy about finding that enigma machine. I went to Chicago and got him one of those little injection molded submarines you can get at the museum. He was pretty tickled about that. RIP Mr. Moore. Thanks for telling the story sir.

Fun fact about U505 not in the video: After the war when news that U505 was being turned into a museum ship, the companies in West Germany that used to manufacture spare parts for those subs, offered to supply replacement parts for the sub. I can just imagine it: “we regret that you have taken our boat captive. But since she’s going to be a museum ship, here; at least make her look accurate.”

I've been on this U-boot at the MSI. It was... humbling. Also, you left the best part of the story out: The interior of the ship had to be refurbished after the war. The curator of the exhibit wrote to all the German companies he needed parts from, fully expecting to be told "Nein, fahr zur Hoelle". Every single company sent the parts free of charge, with a passive-aggressive message saying that it was still German property and they wanted it to be a testament to German engineering.

This video needs to be shown at the exhibit in the museum in Chicago!! Give them the rights please!

as a german citizen I can say: WOW that's a GREAT story! thank you for telling it so wonderfully

Normal countries: "We defend ourselves by building walls and digging trenches so the enemy can't get to us." America: "We defend ourselves by eradicating the enemy pre-emptively, so the enemy can't get to us." America: Because an enemy can't be an enemy if it has neither arms nor legs to fight or run with.

"I stole that submarine fair and square" -makes me proud to be an American!

As a fellow electrician, that driveshaft hack was fucking baller

"Here's all the shit from your office and it's distinctly not water logged." Lmfao

Hey Nick, one of my great-grandfathers took part in capturing the U-505. He was part of the boarding party, and where he had to swim to the damn sub in order to get the hatches open. He received the Presidential Unit Citation for him and his units' bravery while under hostile gun fire. My grandma told me that his job in the Navy had to do with engineering, so, he was pretty much needed in the salvaging operation that took place during and after capture. Sadly, in 1973, at age 44, he passed from cancer. After being told his story and his bravery, he is now one of my inspirations for joining the Navy, hopefully, soon. I will send an email to you with the actual paper certificate, the picture of him and his fellow sailors. Edit/Correction: He was 18 when he joined in 1943 and died at 48 in 1973. His name was John Howard "Mickey" Davies, Jr. Sorry to those who literally went to all hands on deck to correct me. Jeez.

German U-boat commander: “When my chain of command hears about this, I am so screwed.” American commander: “IF. IF your chain of command hears about this.”

I've been through that sub several times. It is an amazing piece of history! One bit missing from the story is how we found the subs to hunt them down. That was due to the 10th fleet. A US Naval fleet with no ships. It operating a line of radio direction finders spread from Greenland through to Brazil allowing the US to locate every sub when it radioed status reports back to Germany. They were instrumental in helping send troops to England for D-Day, especially the Queen Mary and her sister ship, who were too fast for any escorts.