Everett firm to move submarine in Chicago

Sixty years after its capture by U.S. forces, a World War II German submarine is again making waves — with the help of an Everett company.

The U-505, which has drawn more than 24 million visitors as an attraction at the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago, is being lifted from its outdoor moorage and moved about a quarter-mile to a new $35 million indoor display center.

While the distance isn't very far, raising, moving and then lowering a 252-foot, 700-ton vessel is a complicated and lengthy process that's being handled by Norsar LLC of Everett. It's a subsidiary of ETALCO (Engineered Transport & Lifting Co.), which got into the business of heavy lifting in 1976 by doing work for North Sea and Alaska's North Slope oil-drilling projects.

The project has placed the company in a spotlight employees aren't quite accustomed to, with local television and print media planning to follow the multi-day move. The museum has constructed a viewing platform along the route to allow spectators to watch the progress.

"We're used to working in obscurity," said Ralph DiCaprio, Norsar's project manager for the U-505 move.

It's going to take three days of work, spread over the next two weeks, to make the actual trip, starting today. The submarine, which already has been jacked about five feet off the concrete pads on which it was displayed, will travel at an average of an inch a minute during the move. The submarine is expected to be lowered into its new display, more than 40 feet underground, April 22.

Norsar is using 18 eight-wheeled dollies, 10 of which are self-propelled. Norsar has a crew of 14 people in Chicago to do the work.

The submarine will be moved to an enclosed exhibit area intended to protect the U-505 from weather deterioration; Chicago's extremes of temperature and humidity caused the steel hull to rust.

When the $1 million move is complete, the submarine will be completely enclosed and visitors will enter it through a tunnel.

The U-505, built in Germany in 1941, was the first enemy ship to be captured by U.S. forces at sea since the War of 1812. A 26-year-old seaman was able to board the submarine after a battle off the West African coast in 1944 and shut off sea valves, keeping it from being scuttled by its German crew.

The U-505 later went through 10 years of slipshod storage before being moved to the Museum of Science & Industry in 1954, where it has become the most popular attraction at the museum. It's one of five German U-boats left in the world.

The submarine isn't the biggest object Norsar has moved, however. DiCaprio says that distinction probably would go to a 6,000-ton New Jersey airport building the company helped move about two years ago.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259, or pwhitely@seattletimes.com. Information from the Chicago Tribune is included in this report.