{"nrhp_refnum":"89001231","name":"U-505 (IX C U-Boat)","other_names":["Can Do Junior"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Jackson Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.86649756400004,"lon":-87.61576609599996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-06-29","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1989-06-29","areas_of_significance":["Military","Engineering","Maritime History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"U-505 is a German Type IX C submarine built in Hamburg, Germany, begun in 1940 and commissioned in 1941. It is now on permanent exhibit in a dry berth at the Museum of Science and Industry in Jackson Park, Chicago, Illinois.","why_significant":"U-505 was captured on the high seas off French West Africa by the U.S. Navy, the first foreign warship so captured since 1815. She yielded valuable intelligence on German equipment and codes. She is also one of only two surviving operational German U-boats not on the ocean bottom, and she was dedicated in 1954 as a memorial to Americans lost at sea in World War II.","narrative":"U-505 is a German Type IX C submarine, built at the Deutsche Werft yard in Hamburg as hull 295 and commissioned in August 1941. At about 76 meters long, she was designed for long-range commerce raiding and is the only surviving example of 156 boats of her class. She made several war patrols from Lorient, France, sinking Allied ships. In 1944 the U.S. Navy damaged, boarded and captured her off Cape Blanco in French West Africa, the first foreign warship taken on the high seas by the Navy since 1815. She was brought to the United States, where she provided intelligence about German equipment and codes, and later toured East and Gulf coast ports for a War Bond drive. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago obtained her, and in 1954 she was dedicated as a memorial to the 55,000 Americans lost at sea in World War II. Visitors now tour her interior through openings cut into the hull.","period_of_significance":"1940-1947","architect_builder":"Deutsches Werft Shipyard, Hamburg, Germany","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"On permanent exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, open to the public for self-guided tours; the hull sits on a concrete foundation.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.857526-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/70/8915/28891570/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/89001231_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001231/dbe7c1afb2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001231/dbe7c1afb2-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Unknown authorUnknown author","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_U.S._Navy_boarding_party_working_to_secure_a_tow_line_to_the_bow_of_the_captured_German_submarine_U-505,_4_June_1944_(80-G-49172).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown authorUnknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_U.S._Navy_boarding_party_working_to_secure_a_tow_line_to_the_bow_of_the_captured_German_submarine_U-505,_4_June_1944_(80-G-49172).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891570","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-505","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q698787"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/u-505-ix-c-u-boat-89001231/"}