USS BORIE vs. U-405
1-2 NOVEMBER 1944
USS BORIE vs. U-405
One of the most effective defenses against German U-boats of WWII was the escort carrier hunter-killer group. These teamed destroyers with small deck aircraft carriers, whose F4F Wildcats and sundry other aircraft could scout beyond the horizon to catch U-boats on the surface. On Halloween afternoon, 1944, the USS CARD (CVE-11) hunter-killer group was operating near the Azores in the southern North Atlantic. LTJG W.S. Fowler, patrolling 20 miles north in his torpedo bomber, spotted two German subs on the surface, a “milchkuhe” (milk cow) refueling an attack boat, U-91. He and a buddy used their 500# bombs to sink the supply sub, U-584, however U-91 got away. CARD’s commander, CAPT Arnold J. Isbell, dispatched USS BORIE (DD-215) to pursue the escaping sub. Though this WWI-era flush deck destroyer was the oldest warship in the group and her skipper, LT Charles H. Hutchins, the most junior, the reputation for aggressiveness of BORIE’s crew had caught Isbell’s attention. Her irascible officers were even renown for throwing dishes and flatware about the wardroom with surprising accuracy.
In spite of a brewing tempest, BORIE rang up a flank bell and charged off in search of her quarry. About midnight, after hours of murderous pounding in the 15-20 foot seas, she was rewarded with two radar contacts. Hutchins opened fire on the closest, U-256, and drove her underwater. Several passes over the site with depth charges convinced Hutchins that no mortal sub could have survived. He radioed, “Scratch one pig boat–Am searching for more,” and rushed after the second contact. (In truth U-256 had survived and did successfully limp home).
About 0200 Hutchins’ radar re-acquired the second sub, U-405, still running on the surface. She may well have been experiencing mechanical problems, because her crewmen were exposed on her deck, and in the ensuing attack she made no attempt to submerge. In fact, it was the Germans who opened with a few wild shots when BORIE’s searchlight cut the darkness. For the next hour the sub and destroyer traded potshots as they circled. Green water crashing over the fo’csle made it difficult to serve the destroyer’s guns, and too, each antagonist disappeared regularly in the trough. BORIE’s machine gunners nevertheless effectively cleared the U-boat’s deck. Their work was no less inspired by the offensive physical appearance of the German sailors, whose long hair and colorful bandannas–an allowance for U-boaters–was an affront to the propriety of the salty Americans. Then at nearly the same time, BORIE took a shell in the radio room and U-405 had her deck gun disabled. Hutchins now ordered his helm hard aport in an attempt to ram, while a sharp turn by the U-boat put the two on a collision course. With the grating of metal on metal, BORIE’s keel rode high onto the sub’s starboard bow and wedged fast.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 1 “A-B”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1959, p. 142.
Maher, William and James E. Wise, Jr. “Stand By for a Ram! Part I.” Naval History, Vol 7 (2), Summer 1993, pp. 24-28.
Maher, William and James E. Wise, Jr. “Stand By for a Ram! Part II.” Naval History, Vol 7 (3), Fall 1993, pp. 40-45.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol 10 The Atlantic Battle Won. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1956, pp. 162-68.
Parkin, Robert Sinclair. Blood of the Sea: American Destroyers Lost in World War II. New York, NY: Sarpedon, 1995, pp. 177-84.
Roscoe, Theodore. United States Destroyer Operations in World War II. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1953, pp. 289-91.
