There’s something enchanting about submarines. As an aside, my friend, Tom Vetter, a retired Navy Lieutenant Commander and career-long submariner, just published a memoir about his singular historical career, and I’d be remiss not to include a link to more information about this tremendous book.

The submarine pictured here is German U-Boat 505, the submarine we captured during World War II. It has a lovely home at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

This appeared to be the captain’s quarters — an alcove, really, but luxurious by comparison to crew quarters.

Some gauges from the control room.

The display map of where the submarine was captured and where it was stored for the duration of the war. Unfortunately, for security reasons and in violation of the Geneva Conventions, the crew was kept isolated in an American Prisoner of War camp and not allowed to contact family and friends to let them know they were alive. (But I understand and approve of this, given the gravity of the wartime situation.)

Here, we see the reason this is important to me. We captured the Enigma machines and codes. During my enlisted military service, I was a cryptographic maintenance technician. These machines are historical and this story was an important part of my military cultural history.

Thank you for visiting for the April A-Z Blogging Challenge. Today’s entry is “Grand Tour”-themed, about our Amtrak trip we took last month. I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions in comments. If you don’t want to miss an entry, please enter your email address below, press sign-up, then check your inbox to click the validation link to get these blog posts in your inbox.