If you're in Chicago, ...

... you might want to stop by the Museum of Science and Industry to see the U-505 in its new, climate-controlled home.

A captured World War II German submarine that's been a crowd favorite for more than 50 years at the Museum of Science and Industry has resurfaced inside a $35 million exhibit.

Visitors who remember the sub from school field trips will hardly recognize the 700-ton U-boat, except for its lingering musty sub smell. The U-505, the only German submarine captured by the U.S. Navy during World War II, has undergone a massive restoration and been relocated to a 35,000-square-foot, climate-controlled underground space.

Since its arrival at the museum in 1954, the sub had been outside, exposed to the harsh Chicago summers and even harsher winters. Visitors could enter its cramped quarters to see the controls and bunks, but their only view of the sub's exterior was through small windows.

Now, a walkway encircles the 252-foot sub, and the U-boat is bathed in a blue light as if its dark gray hull is sliding through the water.

The exhibit opened this June 4, on the 61st anniversary of the submarine's capture. By all indications, the museum did an outstanding job. I plan to stop by the next time I pay a visit to the Hog Butcher for the World!

-- CAV