USS Borie (DD-215)

USS "Borie" (DD-215) was a in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the first ship named for Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of the Navy, Adolph E. Borie. She served in the Black Sea, the Asiatic Fleet and the Caribbean between the wars, and in the Battle of the Atlantic, the long campaign to protect Allied shipping from German U-boats during World War II. As part of the antisubmarine Hunter-killer Group unit Task Group 21.14, the crew earned a Presidential Unit Citation for its "extraordinary performance." "Borie" also earned distinction in her final battle with in November 1943, and was sunk by friendly forces due to damage sustained by ramming the surfaced U-boat and engaging her crew with small arms fire.
Construction.
"Borie" was launched on 4 October 1919, by William Cramp & Sons; sponsored by Patty Borie, great-grandniece of Secretary Borie; and commissioned on 24 March 1920, Lieutenant Commander E. F. Clement in command.
As a typical "flush decker," "Borie" was armed with four guns, one anti-aircraft (AA) gun, six .30 caliber (7.62 mm) machine guns, and twelve torpedo tubes in four triple mounts, two mounts on each side. She was also fitted with depth charges and sonar for use against submarines. Her top speed was 35 knots (65 km/h).
Due to the heat in the tropics, it was customary for crewmen to sleep on the open decks of their ships, to be cooled by the breeze. The "flush deckers" often sported canvas awnings over their decks for this purpose.
Service history.
In April 1920, "Borie" joined the United States Naval Detachment in Turkish Waters for service in the Black Sea. The following year, she reported to Destroyer Division 38, Asiatic Fleet, and for the next four years alternated between the Philippine Islands during the winter and Chefoo and Shanghai, China, during the summer. She then returned home and patrolled in the Caribbean until the spring of 1927, when she made a cruise to Europe. "Borie" remained with the Atlantic Fleet until 1929, when she began a three-year tour with the Asiatic Fleet.
Following conversion to a Squadron Leader at San Diego (1932–33), "Borie" joined Destroyer Squadron 2, Battle Force. She remained in the Pacific on normal destroyer duty until late 1939, when she transited the Panama Canal to join the Neutrality Patrol. After the breakout of hostilities between the US and the Axis powers, she served first on the Inshore Patrol, 15th Naval District, in Panama Bay. In December 1941, in the face of the growing U-boat campaign in the Caribbean, she replaced as flagship of Destroyer Division 67, which also included and . On 15 June 1942, she rescued survivors of USAT "Merrimac," which had been torpedoed.
After returning to Philadelphia in November 1942, "Borie" went to New Orleans for an overhaul and then was reassigned to the Caribbean. During her refit, she had surface search radar installed; four of her .30 cal. (7.62 mm) machine guns were removed, and replaced with two single-mount Oerlikon 20 mm AA guns. For three months beginning in February 1943, "Borie", "Barry" and "Goff" were attached to Escort Unit 23.2.4 with gunboats and and the patrol craft "PC-575" and "PC-592," which operated between Trinidad and Recife, Brazil with Admiral Jonas Ingram's South Atlantic Fleet (later Fourth Fleet). The escort unit accompanied convoys from Trinidad to Recife, where it was relieved by Brazilian Navy units who took the convoys to Bahia.
Patrols with Task Group 21.14.
Returning to Norfolk in May, the three destroyers escorted convoy UGS-13 to Casablanca, French Morocco and on their return were assigned to hunter killer Task Group 21.14, escorting the escort carrier under her Captain Arnold J. Isbell. On 26 June 1943, under the command of Lt. Cdr. Charles H. Hutchins, at the time the youngest destroyer commander in the Navy, the destroyer departed the Caribbean and on 30 July put to sea in the North Atlantic as a member of the antisubmarine group built around "Card". "Borie" completed three patrols with "Card"s group, providing valuable support for sister ships in the pursuit and sinking of German U-boats. The Presidential Unit Citation was awarded to Task Group 21.14 for actions during these three patrols:
In late October 1943, TG 21.14 went out for a fourth patrol, searching for a reported refueling concentration of U-boats around a "Milchkuhe" (Milk Cow) tanker sub in the North Atlantic. The report was the result of the triangulation of bearings taken with high frequency radio direction finders (HFDF, nicknamed "huff-duff").
Final battle with "U-405".
During her fourth patrol, "Borie" got a radar contact on shortly after 1943 hours, 31 October and closed in. The U-boat promptly crash dived. Two depth charge attacks forced her back to the surface, but she again submerged; after a third attack, a large oil slick was observed. Though "U-256" made it home badly damaged, Hutchins believed the target to be sunk, and signalled "Card": "Scratch one pig boat; am searching for more."
"Borie" then got another radar contact about from the first, at 0153 hours on 1 November 1943, range and charged in to engage. At radar contact was lost, but sonar picked up the enemy sub at about the same time. "Borie" engaged (a Type VIIC U-boat) hours before dawn, at 49°00' N., 31°14' W. There were seas, with high winds and poor visibility. The destroyer initially launched depth charges, after which the submarine came (or was probably forced) to the surface. "Borie" then came about for another attack, engaging with 4-inch and 20 mm gunfire at a range of .
The sub's machine guns scored hits in the forward engine room and several scattered and harmless hits near the bridge, and her deck gun crew traversed their gun and took aim for their first shot at "Borie"s waterline; but "Borie"s 20 mm gunfire killed every exposed member of the sub's crew topside, and a salvo of three 4-inch shells then blew off the sub's deck gun before it fired a round. "Borie" then closed in and rammed "U-405," but at the last moment, the submarine turned hard to port and a huge wave lifted the "Borie"s bow onto the foredeck of the U-boat.
After the ramming, "Borie" was high-centered on top of "U-405", and until they separated, exchanges of small arms fire took place. This was a unique battle: unlike most other modern naval battles, it was decided by ramming and small arms fire at extremely close range. "Borie"s 24-inch spotlight kept the submarine illuminated throughout the following battle, except for brief periods when it was turned off for tactical reasons.
The two ships were initially almost perpendicular to one another; as the battle progressed, wave action and the efforts of both crews to dislodge from the enemy ship resulted in the two vessels becoming locked in a "V" for an extended fight, with the U-boat along "Borie"s port side. The two ships were locked together only 25–30° from parallel. The action of the seas began to open seams in "Borie"s hull forward and flood her forward engine room. The submarine's hull, made of thicker steel and sturdier beams to withstand deep diving, was better able to handle the stress. Hutchins reported later, "We were impressed by the ruggedness and toughness of these boats."
Normally, in a surface engagement the superior armament, speed and reserve buoyancy of the destroyer would have been decisive. But in this unusual case, the destroyer was unable to depress her 4-inch and 3-inch deck guns enough to hit the sub, while all of the submarine's machine guns could be brought to bear. One or two 4-inch gun crews attempted to fire, but their shells passed harmlessly over the target. "Borie"s crew had a limited number of small arms, however, and the German deck mounts were completely open and had no protection. The executive officer had presented a virtually identical situation during drills on 27 October – a theoretical ramming by a U-boat on the port side – and as a result, after the ramming the "Borie"s crew took immediate action without orders.
In the extended and bitter fighting that ensued, dozens of German sailors were killed in desperate attempts to keep their machine guns manned. As each man emerged from the hatch and ran toward the guns, he was illuminated by "Borie"s spotlight and met by a hail of gunfire. "Borie"s resourceful crew engaged the enemy with whatever was at hand: Tommy guns, rifles, pistols, shotguns intended for riot control, and even a Very pistol. "Borie"s executive officer and a signalman fired effectively from the bridge with Tommy guns throughout the fight. One German sailor was hit in the chest with a Very flare. One of the Oerlikon 20 mm cannon was also able to continue firing, with devastating effect.
"Borie"s crewmen could clearly see a polar bear insignia painted on the conning tower of the sub, and three numerals that had been obliterated by 20 mm gunfire. The bow of the sub had been badly damaged by the depth charges and she was probably unable to submerge. "U-405"s deck armament was extensive: in addition to the 88 mm gun, she also had six MG 42 machine guns, in one quadruple and two single mounts. These weapons would have been devastating if the sub's crewmen had been able to keep them manned. Occasionally, one of them would reach one of the MG 42 mounts, and open fire briefly before he was killed. Other German sailors kept up a sporadic small arms fire of their own from open hatchways.
At a key moment in the fight, as "Borie"s port side crewmen were running out of 20 mm and small arms ammunition, two Germans broke from their protected position behind the bridge and approached the quad mount gun. A thrown sheath knife pierced a German crewman's abdomen and he fell overboard. Unable to bring his gun to bear, one of the 4-inch gun captains threw an empty 4-inch shell casing at the other German sailor, and successfully knocked him overboard as well.
Sinking of "U-405".
Finally, "U-405" and "Borie" separated and the crews attempted to engage each other with torpedoes, to no effect. At this point, about 35 of the German crew of 49 had been killed or lost overboard. "Borie" had been badly damaged and was moving at a reduced speed, while the sub was still capable of maneuvering at a similar speed. "U-405"s tighter turning radius effectively prevented "Borie" from bringing her superior broadside firepower to bear, and her skipper, "Korvettenkapitän" Rolf-Heinrich Hopmann, did a masterful job of maneuvering his badly damaged boat with his remaining crew.
"Borie" shut off her searchlight, with her crew hoping "U-405" would attempt to escape and provide a better target for gunfire. The submarine did attempt to speed away, and "Borie" switched her searchlight back on and turned to bring her broadside guns and a depth charge thrower to bear. The sub was bracketed by shallow-set depth charges and struck by a 4-inch shell, and came to a stop. "Borie"s crew observed about 14 sailors signalling their surrender and abandoning ship in yellow rubber rafts, and Hutchins gave the order to cease fire; several of them were apparently wounded, being loaded into the rafts in stretchers by their shipmates. The last man to leave the stricken ship was wearing an officer's cap. "U-405" sank slowly by the stern at 0257. She was seen to explode underwater, probably from scuttling charges set by the last officer to leave. Hutchins reported later,
The survivors were observed firing Very star shells: "Borie"s crew believed this to be a distress signal, and maneuvered in an attempt to recover them from their rubber rafts, as they approached off the port bow. But as it turned out, the Germans were signalling another surfaced U-boat, which answered with a star shell of her own. A "Borie" lookout reported a torpedo passing close by from that U-boat, and "Borie" had no choice but to protect herself by sailing away. "Borie" was forced to sail through the "U-405" survivors' rafts as she turned away from the other U-boat, but the men on the rafts were observed firing another Very flare as "Borie" steamed away in a radical zigzag pattern. No German survivors were ever recovered by either side; all 49 crewmen were lost.
A jubilant radio report of the sinking of "U-405" was sent to "Card" after the engagement, before the extent of the ship's damage was fully realized. Then her radio fell silent. "Borie" attempted to reach her scheduled rendezvous with the rest of the "Card" Task Group, planned for shortly after sunrise.
Sinking of "Borie".
Because of the loss of electric power, the crew had to wait until daylight to fully assess the damage to their ship. First light brought a thick fog. "Borie" was too badly damaged by the collision to reach the rendezvous in time, or even be towed to port by her sister ships. She had sustained severe underwater damage along her entire port side, including both engine rooms, as the two ships were pounded together by the sea before separating. The stress of the wave action from the 15-foot waves, as "Borie" was pinned against the U-boat's hull, had caused damage to key operating systems throughout the ship.
The forward engine room and generators were completely flooded, and only the starboard engine was operating in the partially flooded aft engine room. Auxiliary power had been lost and speed was reduced. The most critical damage was the compromised hull; but steam and water lines had separated, and most of the fresh water for the boilers had been lost, compounding the drive system problems. As a result, Hutchins was forced to use salt water in the boilers: the reduction in steam pressure forcing him to further reduce speed to 10 knots, making her an easy target for U-boats.
At about 1100, the communications officer restarted the Kohler emergency radio generator with a mixture of Zippo lighter fluid and alcohol from a torpedo; a distress call was sent, a homing beacon was set up and, after some delays due to poor visibility, "Borie" was spotted by a Grumman TBF Avenger from "Card." Valiant efforts were made to save the ship. Kerosene battle lanterns had to be used for all work below decks. The crew formed a bucket brigade, and all available topweight was jettisoned, even the gun director. All remaining torpedoes were fired. The lifeboat, torpedo tubes, 20 mm guns and machine guns were removed and thrown over the side, along with the small arms used against the U-boat crew, tons of tools and equipment, and over 100 mattresses. Only enough 4-inch ammunition was kept for a final defensive action: 10 rounds per gun.
But the ship continued to slowly settle into the water with all pumps running; trailing fuel oil from all portside fuel tanks, and an approaching storm front had been reported. It would have been necessary to bring out a tugboat to tow her into port; due to the poor visibility prevalent in the North Atlantic, Hutchins believed the chances of a tugboat finding "Borie" were slim. The nearest port, Horta, was about 690 miles away; Iceland, Ireland and Newfoundland were all about 900 miles away, and the task group was at the approximate center of five reported U-boat wolfpacks. By now there were waves.
As nightfall approached at 1630, Hutchins reluctantly ordered his exhausted crew to abandon ship. The "Card" task force had taken a substantial risk by leaving the escort carrier unprotected in sub-infested waters. "Card" was 10 miles away, but and were close by as the crew abandoned "Borie;" on orders from the Task Group commander, the ship was not scuttled at that time. Despite the sporadic machine gun and small arms fire from "U-405," none of "Borie"s crewmen had been killed during the engagement, although several were wounded. But due to water, 20-foot waves, high winds and severe exhaustion, three officers and 24 enlisted men were lost during the rescue operation. Hutchins reported, "Many of the lost were just unable to get over the side" of the two rescuing destroyers.
Still, the ship remained afloat through the night; "Goff" and "Barry" attempted to sink the wreck at first light, but torpedoes went astray in the heavy seas. One 4-inch shell from "Barry" struck the bridge and started a small fire, but she still refused to sink. The "coup de grace" was delivered on the morning of 2 November by a bomb dropped by a TBF Avenger from VC-9 on "Card". "Borie" finally sank at 0955 on 2 November. The survivors were transferred to the more spacious accommodations of "Card" for the journey home.
Awards.
"Borie" received three battle stars for her World War II service as well as the Presidential Unit Citation for her actions in the "Card" group. For the final battle, "Borie" crewmembers were awarded three Navy Cross medals, two Silver Star medals and one Legion of Merit medal.