Chapter 14 Churchill's Nightmare

Time:   January 20-24

Place: Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

Chicago, Illinois

Event: My recent 4 day trip to Chicago

.. the only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril’

 -Winston Churchill

Life aboard a German U-boot was Hell. Lacking desalination devises for potable water, that liquid lifesaving luxury was rationed like gold. 

If you've  ever skipped  a well needed shower, or failed to brush your teeth, then you know the personal discomfort and public embarrassment that one experiences from even a day away from such precious habit. For the forces of the German Kriegsmarine, however, this was

not laziness but law.

For tours of up to 6 months at sea, submariners were not permitted to bathe, brush teeth or wash the one set of clothes they wore. And shaving? That was just plain out of the question. Quarters were tight and space was treasured ,but in the crushing claustrophobia and reek of constant death, an unbreakable camaraderie was forged amongst those men like something tempered in the hottest fires of personal anguish and indescribable fear. 3/4s of them never lived to see the end of the war.

There was only one bunk for every three men who rotated around the clock in 8 hour shifts. The cots were always warm from the man you just replaced. One of the only 2 toilets was was full of food stocks that had to be eaten through before it would be available for use. And the single solitary toilet that was left available was often brimming with urine and feces, since flushing it would send out a sound that would alert prowling, nearby ships to their location.  

For hours, sometimes days the submarine might lay on the bottom of the ocean floor while cruisers and sub hunters circled and pummeled the waters with depth charges attempting to destroy the suspected unknown.

A  dropped wrench, a cough, a panic attack, a single conversation or the flush of the toilet would tip off to the enemy above where they were hiding and could prove the end of them all. Air would run critically low as they used up all the oxygen they had, patiently waiting for the allies to finally give up the hunt and sail away. 

Yet these terrifying and austere conditions brought incredible results. In the early 1940s, the time that the Kriegsmarine call the “Glückliche Jahre” (happy years) the German wolf packs were destroying an enormously high number of ships. At their prime in 1942 they were sinking ships at the rate of 3 per day. A stream of bubbles from an incoming torpedo might be the last thing you ever saw before descending to a watery grave.

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Behind the Scenes:  

During World War 2 off the West coast of Africa, the German Submarine U 505 was depth charged and forced to the surface. The American Navy subsequently towed it all

the way back to America where it now peacefully rests in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. 

The following photos I took of either the U-Boot or the displays at the Chicago Museum of Science.

Red lights meant "Battle Stations!"

Der "Tiefenmesser" (Depth Gauge)

Before being blown to the surface on that fateful day they descended down to the crushing depth of 500 feet. How many terrified men stared into this gauge and wondered if the hull would implode?

Captain Lange of the U-505.

An all around great guy who accomplished great things and 

was loved by everyone. 

Captain Daniel V. Gallery. The American captain 

who captured the fated German U-505.

A kill-joy, trouble maker and all around pain in the ass

who wrecked  all of our fun. Nobody loved this man.