I finally took the U-505 tour in Chicago...(lousy tour, btw) 20 visitors at a time...they would not allow viewing from the outside of the ship, nor access to the conning tower, nor walking on deck (too many falling accidents). In 2004 they're supposed to move her completely indoors with access to every level.

I asked to view the TDC, one of the guides told me he had been viewing the ship every month since it was placed for public viewing (1954) and had never seen the TDC and didn't think it had one.

He was partially correct...it was removed to a conning tower simulation, near the end of the tour next to a USN periscope which is permanently set to overlook Lake Michigan. The real scopes are not apart of the tour due to the accident prone public, so they removed the TDC and placed it in the mock-up with the USN's scope. I immediately identified what it was.

Photos? Sorry, they have the corporate mindset there and put the BIG rush on getting as many people thru the tour as possible $$$

Still, I can describe it as having only three gauges. Each has Red-Green, Port/Starboard displays. The gauges are configured in a triangle fashion, that is, one on top and two gauges below. Very compact and surprisingly small, approx 10 cm x 20 cm. When I tried copying the information on the gauges, I was chastised for slowing down the tour Having driven 300 miles I was frustrated!

There are four control knobs for inputting data, one on each side of the upper gauge and one on each side of the bottom two gauges. These control knobs are as large as the gauges, perhaps 8 to 9 cm diameter.

It's time I invested in a digital camera...sorry.


Don Reed