I recently became aware of this ghost fleet. https://sometimes-interesting.com/20...f-mallows-bay/

Then contrast that to the captured U-505 which is now enshrined about as safe as can be inside a special basement in Chicago. I have toured this boat when it was rotting above ground.

U-505 was a big deal capture. War changing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-505

U-505 is a German Type IXC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was captured by the U.S. Navy on 4 June 1944.

In her uniquely unlucky career with the Kriegsmarine, she had the distinction of being the "most heavily damaged U-boat to successfully return to port" in World War II (on her fourth patrol) and the only submarine in which a commanding officer took his own life in combat conditions (on her tenth patrol, following six botched patrols).[5]

One of six U-boats that were captured by Allied forces during World War II, U-505 was the first warship captured by U.S. forces on the high seas since the War of 1812. She was captured on 4 June 1944 by United States Navy Task Group 22.3 (TG 22.3). All but one of U-505's crew were rescued by the Navy task group. The submarine was towed to Bermuda in secret and her crew was interned at a US prisoner-of-war camp where they were denied access to International Red Cross visits. The Navy classified the capture as top secret and prevented its discovery by the Germans. Her codebooks, Enigma machine, and other secret materials found on board helped the Allied codebreakers.[6]

Perhaps captured is a better keepsake.

Quite a story also. Germany supplied the refit. "When U-505 was donated to the Museum, she had been sitting neglected at the Portsmouth Navy Yard for nearly ten years; just about every removable part had been stripped from her interior. She was in no condition to serve as an exhibit. Admiral Gallery proposed a possible solution. At his suggestion, Lohr contacted the German manufacturers who had supplied U-505's original components and parts, asking for replacements. As the Admiral reported in his autobiography, Eight Bells and All's Well, to his and the museum's surprise, every company supplied the requested parts without charge. Most included letters that said in effect, "We are sorry that you have our U-boat, but since she's going to be there for many years, we want her to be a credit to German technology."[34] quote, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-505

Now it may last a while. https://www.msichicago.org/explore/w...on-board-tour/