Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "U-Boat Heist! The American Operation to Capture U-505" video.

  1. The capture wasn't happenstance. Captain Gallery was bound and determined his task group was going to capture a U-boat intact. He had boarding parties trained and drilled them so they could board quickly and disable any scuttling charges. His men trained in shooting targets in the body center mass so as not to damage any instruments or important equipment with stray bullets if a gunfight broke out. They also trained with bayonets and, at least in one case, a cutlass . The escorts all practiced depth runs that would do the most apparent damage to a sub without actually sinking it. His gun crews worked on firing patterns that would stop the Germans from manning the deck guns. They trained their fire just above the deck so the hail of gunfire would force sailors overboard without causing further damage to the sub. The fast action of Gallery's men allowed the capture by boarding of the first enemy ship captured by US sailors in combat since 1789. A combat photographer was on board the Guadalcanal, so that's why we have such a good record of the capture. Admiral King was first going to court-martial Captain Gallery for towing the half sunken sub instead of getting the code books and sinking it. Admiral King rightly feared the Germans would find out about the capture and then change all their codes. Gallery had also drilled the men of the task force in secrecy. letting them know anyone who broke silence before the capture was announced would be spending the rest of the war guarding a lighthouse in the Aleutians. It worked, and not one man ever spoke of it until released by the Navy to do so. Gallery escaped a court-martial once those above King heard the story and saw the films. They knew they had the makings of the greatest Navy war bond drive ever. After the end of the war against Germany, that's exactly what happened, the U-505 visiting various East Coast cities during June, 1945, and raising millions from the sales of war bonds, with each bond purchased allowing the purchaser a tour of the boat, while the film of the capture played in an endless loop on the fantail. This notoriety and the work of Captain Gallery and his brother, Father John Gallery, to convince the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry to take the boat for display saved the U-505 from being sunk as a gunnery and torpedo target. As the video notes, the U-505 remains there to this day and is well worth a visit.
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