The U-505The submarine is held aloft near the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry as it is lowered into its future exhibit space. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry Constructed at the docks of Hamburg, Germany, the U-505 was one of the German navy's Type IX-class submarines, a long-range attack boat developed with longer dive times and agility compared to its predecessors.Given the Kriegsmarine's limited surface fleet, the U-boat was tasked with destroying shipping vessels in the Atlantic owned by the US and other Allied nations. After the U-505 enteredthe Battle of the Atlantic in 1942, it sank eight ships over a dozen war patrols and wasTens of thousands died in the brutal war at sea. Allied mariners died in the torpedo explosions or drowned in the cold ocean waters afterward. In some incidents, U-boats also attacked passenger liners like the SS Athenia.The string of sunken ships earned the U-505 a feared reputation as an underwater predator, but little did the crew know that its winning streak would someday come to an end. Inside the U-boatThe engine room of the submarine. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry The U-505 had a displacement of over 1,100 tons and measured about 250 feet long. Propelled by two saltwater-cooled diesel engines, the U-boat had a range of nearly 17,000 miles, allowing it to deploy on long-range patrols to target merchant vessels.Its surface speed was 18 knots, but its underwater speed was eight knots, which left it vulnerable to faster enemy ships while it operated below the surface. It mostly sailed on the surface at night and dove when spotted or when sneaking up on ships to torpedo. An underwater ship-killerA display shows the antiaircraft naval gun that was equipped on the U-505. Lauren Frias/Business Insider Serving as an attack submarine, the U-505 had six 21-inch torpedo tubes four in the bow and two in the stern with storage to carry up to 22 torpedos at a time.The U-boat's surface armament included two antiaircraft guns and a 4.1-inch deck gun that could fire 15 rounds per minute. Life aboard the German submarineA torpedo sits nearby hanging cots in the submarine's torpedo room. Lauren Frias/Business Insider Built to endure longer voyages and dive times, the U-505 could operate on patrols for 100 days or more. Despite the larger design of the Type-IX subs, the pressure hull was no bigger than a subway car.As many as 60 people would live and work on the U-boat, taking turns sharing the 35 bunks, some of which were installed in the sub's front and rear torpedo rooms. Harsh living conditionsThe submarine's galley. Lauren Frias/Business Insider Space was hard to come by in the cramped hull. Only one sailor could stand in the tiny kitchen at a time. The fumes would waft from the engine room to the rest of the U-boat, leaving the crew's limited provisions tasting like diesel.Personnel often just wore shoes and underwear while living in the submarine, where temperatures could exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the warmer months.The U-505 only had two bathrooms aboard one of which was used to store food but the crew never bathed and had to clean themselves with alcohol throughout the two-month patrols. Tracking down the elusive boatA view up the hatch. Lauren Frias/Business Insider On June 4, 1944, a US Navy hunter-killer group detected the U-505 operating off the coast of Rio de Oro in Africa's Western Sahara. Commanded by US Navy Capt. Daniel V. Gallery, Task Group 22.3 was comprised of the escort carrier USS Guadalcanal and five destroyers.Depth charges launched by the Edsall-class destroyer escort USS Chatelain, which detected the German vessel with sonar, jammed the U-boat's rudder and flooded the aft compartment, forcing the vessel to surface.Setting out on an anti-submarine sweep with the stated purpose of capturing and bringing back to the United States a German submarine, all units of the Task Group worked incessantly throughout the cruise to prepare themselves for the accomplishment of this exceedingly difficult purpose. Salvaging the U-505Water flooded in through a sea strainer that was left open by fleeing German submariners, threatening to sink the vessel. Lauren Frias/Business Insider German intelligence was vital during WWII, making recovery efforts for the sinking U-boat a top priority for the Navy task group.German Capt. Harald Lange, who commanded the U-505, ordered the crew to abandon ship. To avoid capture, the Germans attempted to sink the U-boat with time bombs throughout the submarine and opened a sea strainer that caused water to rush inside the hull.US Navy sailors who boarded the quickly flooding vessel disabled the scuttle charges and replaced the strainer cover.In an operation wrought with numerous risks and dangers, the capture only resulted in one recorded casualty from the U-505's crew as a result of Allied gunfire. Captured intactUS Navy sailors stand atop the German submarine to secure a tow line to the bow. US Naval History and Heritage Command A boarding party from the Edsall-class destroyer escort USS Pillsbury took a whaleboat to rescue the surviving 58 German sailors and salvage the U-505."Undeterred by the apparent sinking condition of the U-boat, the danger of explosions of demolition and scuttling charges, and the probability of enemy gunfire, the small boarding party plunged through the conning tower hatch, did everything in its power to keep the submarine afloat and removed valuable papers and documents," Adm. Royal E. Ingersoll, then-Commander in Chief of the US Atlantic Fleet, said in the presidential unit citation awarded to the task group. Towing it back to the USUS Navy fleet ocean tug USS Abnaki tows the captured submarine in the Atlantic Ocean. US Naval History and Heritage Command Following the harrowing capture came the task of towing it back home. Operating under utmost secrecy, the US Navy painted the U-boat black and renamed it USS Nemo to hide its capture from the Germans.The partially submerged vessel was towed over 2,500 nautical miles to Bermuda to study the submarine's technology and intelligence on board.The 58 sailors from the U-505 were transported and held at a prisoner-of-war camp in Louisiana, kept under special conditions like isolation and limited communication to keep the submarine's capture a secret.They remained at the camp until the end of the war, with the last of the captives repatriating back to Germany in 1947. Uncovering German secretsDetection and radio equipment on board the German submarine U-505. US Naval History and Heritage Command The Navy recovered codebooks, thousands of communication documents, and two Enigma machines used by the German militaryto decode and encrypt messages to and from the U-505. Breaking Enigma codes allowed fleet commands to know where U-boats would attack. That, along with increasing Allied aircraft patrols for submarines, turned the tide of the Battle of the Atlantic.American naval engineers uncovered that the Germans were developing an advanced acoustic-homing torpedo to target a ship's propellers.The intelligence also allowed the US to get more precise locations for German U-boat operations, redirecting merchant vessels from those areas."The Task Group's brilliant achievement in disabling, capturing, and towing to a United States base a modern enemy man-of-war taken in combat on the high seas is a feat unprecedented in individual and group bravery, execution, and accomplishment in the Naval History of the United States," Ingersoll said in the presidential citation. Preserving the U-boatPeople enjoy a day at the beach near the captured German submarine. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry Once the Navy learned what it could from the German submarine, the U-505 was destined to become gunnery and torpedo target practice, a typical fate for captured enemy vessels.Two years after its capture, Chicago native John Gallery, the brother of Guadalcanal Capt. Gallery, contacted the president of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry to preserve the wartime relic as an exhibit.The Navy donated the U-boat to the museum, but the city of Chicago was tasked with raising $250,000 to move, install, and restore the submarine for exhibition. 'Submarine crossing'An aerial view of the U-505 on the beach as workers move the vessel toward the museum. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry In 1954, the U-505 was towed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where it was being stored, through 28 locks and four Great Lakes to Chicago.After being towed 3,000 miles to 57th Street Beach in Chicago, the next hurdle was transporting the submarine from the waters of Lake Michigan to the museum an 800-foot journey that included passing over an urban expressway.Over the course of a week, engineers removed parts of the sub to make it easier to pull, then moved it across Lake Shore Drive using a network of rails and rollers to its permanent display outside the museum. The U-505's lairThe U-505 takes up a majority of the large exhibit. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry The U-505 was initially berthed outdoors but was later moved into an indoor climate-controlled environment to better preserve it in the long term."The lives and the history that is embedded within the U-505, we don't want to lose any of that," Voula Saridakis, a curator at the Museum of Science and Industry, told Business Insider. "It's so important, historically, of what this war was all about, especially the Battle of the Atlantic, which often, I think, gets overlooked in many ways."Due to its size, the exhibit's concrete housing was erected around the U-505, surrounded by external exhibits that relayed the history of the submarine and the Battle of the Atlantic, whose toll included over 100,000 sailors and mariners and 3,500 merchant ships; Germany alone lost 783 U-boats and an estimated 30,000 crewmen.The interior of the submarine was meticulously restored to replicate the atmosphere and environment as it was before its capture more than eight decades ago, complete with simulated lighting and sound effects to add to the immersiveness."As our visitors come through, they can get an idea of what life was like for these submariners and the living conditions and the tech and the innovation that went into this Type IXC," Saridakis said.In 1982, members from the US Navy's Task Group 22.3 reunited with members of the German submarine's crew in Chicago, marking the first time the German sailors saw the U-boat since the war."Part of what we want to do is preserve the history of the U-505, the battle, and the capture for future generations," Saridakis said, "and we do this through telling this story, helping our guests understand its history and keeping this up and preserved for as long as we can."

The Oura Ring is a fitness tracker popular among athletes, business execs, and celebrities.Fitness reporter Rachel Hosie has used one for four years and was originally attracted by its look.Oura ``Rings provide sleep data, step counts, and menstrual cycle tracking.When I first learned about a new fitness-tracking smart ring four years ago, it wasn't the promise of high-tech features that most piqued my interest, it was the look.As someone who enjoys both fashion and fitness, I didn't think the wrist-worn devices I'd encountered as a health reporter, such as the Whoop strap, Apple Watch, and Fitbit, were attractive enough for me to wear all day every day, to everything from the gym to a wedding.But the Oura Ring, which just looks like a chunky band (mine is gold but other colors are available), was different.Four years later, the look is still important to me, but it's the increasingly clever features that mean I still wear an Oura Ring.Launched in 2013, the Oura ring's popularity has soared in recent years and can be spotted on the hands of athletes, business execs, and celebrities. Last December, the Finnish company announced that its valuation had doubled to $5.2 billion since 2022, thanks to $200 million in new funding. Various brands have launched their own smart rings in recent years but Oura still leads the pack.At $349 to $399 for the latest Oura 4 model, plus a $5.99-a-month subscription, it's not cheap, but neither is an Apple Watch, which can cost as much as $799 for the top model.A few years ago, people were always surprised when I told them my ring was an activity tracker. Now everyone from the saleswoman at a jewelry counter to my sports teammates ask me if I'm wearing an Oura Ring and what it's like.Here are the pros and cons of the Oura Ring that I've found after four years of wearing one. The Oura Ring shows all the data it collects on the app. Oura Con: You can't really wear an Oura Ring while weightliftingWhile the look of an Oura Ring is a big selling point to me, a wrist strap would be better for strength training, which is the bread and butter of my exercise.For movements like deadlifts and pull-ups, I take my ring off as it pinches my skin.However, I'm only interested in tracking the weights I use and reps in workouts, which trackers can't do and so I log separately.Pro: The Oura Ring tracks my daily movementsI love that my Oura Ring picks up all my movement throughout the day, including my steps (a metric the Whoop strap, for example, doesn't track). And it's perfectly comfortable to wear, say, on a run, which is when I like to know my heart rate.The Oura Ring can track various activities, and it's remarkably good at knowing what you've done, from cycling to rowing. It even picks up housework as an activity, which I think is a fantastic way to remind people that all daily movement, not just formal exercise, is important.It also picks up restful moments, including naps if I were much of a napper.Although my ring's battery life has slightly worsened with time, I only have to charge it for about an hour every few days.While some people like having a screen on their device, data collected by the Oura Ring is shown on an app. I like being able to check mine when it suits me. Jennifer Aniston has been spotted wearing an Oura Ring. James Devaney/GC Images Pro: Oura Rings provide detailed sleep dataOura Rings are generally considered to be among the most accurate wearables for tracking sleep, and it's really interesting to see not just how long I've slept in total but also the split between sleep phases, how long it took me to fall asleep, and the overall quality.Research by the University of Oulu in Finland found that the Oura Ring measures resting heart rate at 99.9% reliability compared to a medical-grade electrocardiogram. Oura supported the study by providing equipment and software, and some of the authors were employed by Oura. However, the company was not involved in the study's design or collection and analysis of the results.Shortly after waking up, I find myself reaching for the Oura app to see how I slept, rather than checking in with my body and seeing how I actually feel, which I don't think is a great thing.The sleep data is clever and interesting, but arguably unnecessary for the average person. Wearing a smart ring won't improve your sleep, but it can help you change your habits.Pro: The Oura Ring encourages you to rest Rachel Hosie likes being able to wear her Oura Ring with any outfit. Rachel Hosie Like the Whoop strap, the Oura Ring was one of the first smart devices not just to push people to move more but to help users balance recovery with activity. If you're not well rested, Oura will suggest taking it easy.I like that it promotes balance, but most people can only exercise at certain times and don't necessarily have the luxury of waiting for the next day when their Oura Ring might say they're in a better place to train.That said, it's no bad thing to factor in that perhaps you should do a slightly lighter session.Pro: The temperature sensors can tell you if you're sickOura Rings are very sensitive to body temperature, and this is one of the methods they use to determine when you're feeling tired and where you are in your menstrual cycle.These features are really smart I've heard various Oura users say their rings know they're going to get ill before they do, and studies support this. Similarly, mine has alerted me when my period is going to be a few days late based on my temperature.I take Oura Ring data with a pinch of saltWhile I do believe the Oura Ring is one of the most accurate wearables available, I also know to take all the data with a pinch of salt, and I won't live or die by what it tells me.This is what Livvy Probert, a personal trainer, sports scientist, and head of science at personal health assessment company Hawq Score, previously told me. Wearable tech like Oura Rings are great for monitoring your own sleep and activity trends and progress, but because accuracy can't be guaranteed, you shouldn't necessarily read too much into the numbers.

What is PlayStation working on? (Sony Interactive Entertainment)A reader tries to work out exactly what games Sony is currently working on and comes up with a minimum number of 16.The last few years havent been much fun for PlayStation 5 fans. So few announcements, so few new games, and no real word from Sony as to what theyre doing (or not doing) especially when it comes to live service games. Its been anyones guess whats going and with no sign of a State of Play yet for 2025 it doesnt seem as if anythings going to change suddenly.The reason people are getting upset is that this never used to be how they did things and there doesnt seem any reason why theyve changed. Sony has a lot of first party developers and yet we hardly know for sure what any of them are doing right now. So I decided to go through them all and it seems to me theres a bare minimum of 16 games currently underway.16 games and yet we only officially know about four of them. Four, and all of them only through short pre-rendered trailers. Its bizarre and I just dont know how this is meant to benefit anyone, least of all Sony. So, heres the list by my reckoning. Ive probably missed out some, and some developers may be working on more than one thing at once, so the real number could be quite a bit more.Intergalactic: The Heretic ProphetNaughty Dog announced their new game at The Game Awards last month: some kind of third party sci-fi game thats also a new IP.The Last Of Us Part 3Naughty Dog has said theyre working on multiple single-player games at the moment, and I cannot believe that one of them is not a third Last Of Us game.Santa Monica Studio new IPWe know the makers of Santa Monica are making a new IP because they put job ads out for it just recently. Theres no clue what it is, but it might be sci-fi.New God Of WarThis goes without saying but there was a new job listing for this as well. It might just be a half-sequel, but either way its a new game.Ghost Of YteiHurrah! An actual officially announced game that we know is definitely coming out this year. Sadly, its the only one on the list.Bend Studio new IPThe makers of Days Gone have been said to be working on a new open world IP for a while, but definitely not Days Gone 2.Marvels WolverineOfficially announced but because of the hack last year it sounds like its had some trouble. Id hope theres still a chance it could come out this year though.Venom gameThis was rumoured to be a half-sequel like Miles Morales, but I havent heard anything about it since the hack, so this might be the only one on this list that doesnt happen. Especially as the voice actor died.Bluepoint GamesThey havent had a new game since the Demons Souls remake, but they said theyre working on a new IP so Im all for that.Fairgame$Another actually announced game! Although Im not sure anyone actually cares about this new live service game.Horizon multiplayer gameThis has been rumoured for ages, but I havent seen anything to say its been cancelled or anything after the failure of Concord.Horizon 3Theres no way this isnt happening and since Guerrilla Games hasnt announced anything new you can only assume its their next big project.Media Molecule new IPShockingly, the makers of LittleBigPlanet havent been shut down but are apparently working on a new IP.Housemarque new IPAnother studio whose last game was years ago (Returnal) but hasnt announced anything else new, despite saying theyre making a new IP.Gran Turismo 8Another dead cert, at some point at least, but either way Polyphony Digital has got to be working on something new. Unless Sony is paying these companies to be sitting there twiddling their thumbs.More TrendingNew Astro BotAnother guaranteed sequel and even if its not Team Asobi are obviously going to be working on something new and given the success of Astro Bot probably with a much bigger budget.By reader Zeiss Astro Bot the best game of 2024? (Sony Interactive Entertainment)The readers features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you wont need to send an email.GameCentralExclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

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Online multiplayer has developed as a standard for many multiplayer games due to convenience. One factor that isnt always included is crossplay, the ability to connect between different gaming platforms. It helps to lengthen a game's lifespan for easier online communication, which helps avoid punishing players for using a platform that might have lower online activity.

Halo. Possibly the biggest name in sci-fi gaming, and instantly recognizable to many gamers. Whether they grew up with Halo 3 LAN parties, the overwhelming terror of The Flood in Halo: Combat Evolved, or started a little later with Halo 4 or one of 343's other entries, most gamers will admit that the single-player experience of Halo as a franchise has always been iconic.

The world of Miraland in Infinity Nikki is full of exciting mysteries for players to discover, and of course, plenty of fashion to show off as well. Nikki's neverending pursuit of becoming the top stylist is what has kept the game's player community engaged since its record-breaking launch in December 2024. To help all of those top-quality ensembles come to life, however, it comes down to finding all the required crafting resources.