uboat.net - u-505 on exhibit post capture
Re: u-505 on exhibit post capture From Keith Gill
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Date: May 24, 2008 05:23PM
Dear Jan,
You are correct. On the occassion of the 50th anniversary of the capture
of the U-505 I led a team of volunteers from the GM Electromotive
division and a former U-boat crewmember to carefully restore the stb
diesel engine to operation. It took us nearly 5 months of effort. Of
interest is the fact that the first time the engines were started in the
1950s the museum also had a team of volunteers from the GM electromitive
division. In fact one of those men was present in 1994. MAN was
consulted but their interest was not very high as their resources were
limited. I was offered technical advice, they did send some useful
drawings, but for the most part we did it all on our own.
We chose the Stb engine because it was in the best shape. All of the
valves, injectors, pumps, etc were removed and carefully inspected and
rebuilt as needed. All systems were good, we devised a pre-lube pump for
oil, and were able to bar it over by hand. The pistons as you can
imagine are enormous and are dished on the top. We had injected liberal
amounts of penetrating oil to get piston rings to loosen up to hold
pressure. OUr last test was to make sure the compressed air starter
worked and we hoped to roll the engine on a short burst of air from a
temp rigged air bottle. When we pulled the starting handle it started
and ran about 30 seconds on the penetrating oil that was sitting on top
of the pistons!! We also found that the pressure relief valves that we
had rebuilt and checked also worked perfectly because they let excess
pressure go with a very loud bang!
We immediately ran out and got several cases of the best German beer we
could lay hands on and I'm not shy of saying that was one of the
drunkest nights I have ever had. Lots of 12-18 hour days on that
project. We earned it.
With that green light we assembled everything, rigged a 1 gal fuel tank,
and got ready to run. It ran perfectly on the next night with fuel.
Needless to say we were very proud of the achievement but aware of the
dangers and risk at all times. We had very qualified engineers on hand
throughout the process and there were many levels of check before we
proceeded. We video taped our efforts and made sound recordings of the
engine running. When you walk through the boat you can hear the actual
engine sounds. Unforgettable.
ON the occasion of the actual 50th anniversary on June 4, 1994 we had a
large gathering of the US Task Force Veterans that captured the boat and
some Germans. At the appropriate moment in the ceremony as I stood on
the conning tower I signlaed down the hatch to light up the engine, and
she did. Great fanfare and lots of applause. What a great moment.
I highly doubt it will run again now that it is indoors. Perhaps another
50 years from now a new energetic curator will be able to show the
powers that be that these mechanical monsters need to be regulalry
lubricated to maintain properaly. Who knows, it MAY run again. I'd like
to be there if and when it does.
For now I have realized I may be the last person to have run and been in
charge of running a u-boat diesel. One thing I learned was to appreciate
the experience of those who lived with them for 90-120 days at a time.
It forever after influenced the tours I gave and injected a dose of real
experience to what I had to say. And this appreciation is not limited to
uboat vets, it is for all submariners whatever navy they were in.
Re: the Enigma machines. I was able to track down one of the two
machines captuerd from U-505. It is owned by the NSA crytographic Museum
at Ft George G. Meade, MD. They VERY KINDLY loaned the machine to the
museum where it is now on display next to the boat. We have also on
display a rotor partially disassembled to expose the internal wiring.
Our Enigma display is neat, maybe not the best, but remarkable for
having one of the actual machines on display WITH the boat it was
captured from. It is a four rotor model with printing device.
I hope I answered your questions.
Regards
Keith Gill
