It’s 1 am on the 1st of November, 1943,
and the USS Borie is hunting for a U-boat in the midst of a terrible storm in the North Atlantic.
“Contact 8,000 yards away at 170.”
A contact appears on the ship’s radar.
In command is 30-year-old Lieutenant Charles Harris Hutchins.
He quickly issues the order to give chase at maximum speed.
“Turn 170! Flank speed!”
And the USS Borie powers through 15-foot waves.
But nearby, around 5 nautical miles away, sits U-405,
a Type 7C U-boat under the command of Korvettenkapitän Rolf-Heinrich Hopman.
The U-boat is surfaced and it’s recharging its batteries under the cover of darkness
when, deep within the ship, the hydrophone operator hears something.
It’s the unique telltale sound of propellers churning through the water.
“High speed ship, bearing 90!”
“Hydrophone operator reports high-speed ship bearing 90!”
Hopman knows there is no friendly ships in the area.
This has to be an American.
“Prepare to dive! All crew to battle stations!”
Alarms ricochet through the U-Boat, and the 45-man crew urgently prepare to dive below the surface.
Back on the USS Borie, Hutchins searches in the darkness for any sign of his enemy.
He can’t see a thing, but the radar operator continues providing updates.
Hutchins orders course corrections in response
“Steady as she goes”
“2000, bearing 265”
until the U-boat vanishes from their radar screens.
“Contact has been lost, Sir.”
The news sends chills down Hutchins’ spine.
The U-boat has submerged, and that can only mean one thing.
The Germans know they’re here,
and now the two are in a deadly game of cat and mouse.
“Half speed. Any returns on sonar?”
With the submarine submerged, sonar tracking the echoes from a U-boat is their only chance.
There’s a contact!
“Sonar contact 2000 yards bearing 170.”
“Turn 170!”
Hutchins orders a course to intercept.
On board the U-boat,
the submariner on the hydrophone listens intently but he can only hear Borie’s general direction;
the data isn’t precise enough for a counterattack.
What he can hear is ever louder propellers and the regular sonar pulse emanating from Borie.
“They’re very close, Captain!”
“Turn to port!”
Meanwhile, aboard the USS Borie, the sonar operators track the U-boat drifting into range.
“600 yards!”
“Prepare port launchers for depth charges!”
The crew move quickly, left-side depth charge racks clattering as they ready the release.
Then, the sonar trace shifts abruptly —
“Contact has been lost, Sir.”
the U-boat has slipped directly beneath their keel.
“500 yards. Now bearing starboard, drawing fast.”
“Full to starboard!”
Hutchins orders a hard turn to pursue the target,
swinging the rear of the ship towards the submarine to bring the depth charges to bear.
“300 yards!”

Depth charges

“Fire!”
The charges launch off with loud thunks, flying through the air and splashing into the sea right by the U-405’s nose.
The U-boat is rocked by the blasts, the shockwave punches the submarine’s bow.
“Flooding in the bow, Sir!”
Flooding is impossible to stem when a submarine is fully submerged, as the water pressure is too great.
So Hopman is left without any choice.
“Surface! And man the guns!”
USS Borie sails past, and her sailors look back at the scene of the explosion.
The water is still settling from the blasts when they witness the mighty U-Boat burst from under the sea.
“It surfaced on our stern!”
“Turn on the searchlight! Inform lights where to point!”
Lights come on, and U-405 is immediately clear in the light.

The battle begins

Dozens of Germans are pouring out of the hatches
and they rush to man their 20mm guns and open fire.
The weapons come alive with loud bangs, sending shells streaking over the waves.
The shells slam into the USS Borie’s hull and litter the superstructure, sending American sailors diving for cover.
On U-405 German sailors brave the heavy wind and waves.
The Borie’s spotlight shines directly on their faces as they fire away with 20mm guns.
But they know it’s not enough.
The German sailors scramble to ready their much more powerful 88mm deck gun.
Hutchins knows the danger and acts swiftly.
“All guns! Local control, pointer fire!”
The guns open fire.
The first salvos fly over the Germans’ heads and splash into the water behind.
But it doesn’t take long for Borie’s 20mm cannons to find their mark.
Shells crash through the U-405’s forecastle,
devastating the German gunners, including those manning the vital 88mm.
“Heavy losses reported!”
“Reinforce the deck guns! Keep firing!”
There’s a stream of determined men, but they don’t last.
They fall in droves, sliding into the deep amid the fray.
Brave men reach the 88mm and try to aim, but when they look down the sights,
they find themselves staring directly at a wall of 4-inch main guns aimed towards them.
They’re too late.
The shells slam directly into the forecastle in a brutal strike.
When the smoke clears, U-405’s 88mm gun and its valiant crew are gone.
Borie continues its wide about-turn while pummelling the enemy without relent.
But it’s not enough.
Hutchins knows conning tower hits will never sink it. He needs to deal a fatal blow.

Ram it!

“Ram it!”
The helmsman steers the ship towards the target as Hutchins warns the crew,
“Stand by for a ram. Stand by for a ram.”
All hands brace as the ship barrels down towards the sub at 27 knots.
USS Borie crashes directly into the side of U-405, which buckles her bow.
Deep inside Borie, Chief Engineer Kenneth Miles Lucas sees torrents of water gushing from the fissures.
“Get me the repair team!”
Over in U-405, Hopman stumbles to his feet and orders.
“Attack!”
German sailors charge out of the hatches, and a massive firefight breaks out on both decks.
Borie’s sailors have Tommy Guns, pistols, and rifles;
but the rest fight with whatever they can find.
Flare pistols, shell casings, entire misfired shells, and even kitchen knives are fair tools in this chaos.
The Germans fight back as best they can,
but the Americans have cover and the advantage of elevation.
The U-Boat’s deck grants no cover, and its last defenders don’t stand a chance.
The U-405 incredibly is still afloat and functional,
but the crew is devastated and they’ve lost all their weapons, except the torpedoes.
“Full back! Hard to port!”
U-405 pulls with all its power in an attempt to slip from Borie’s grasp.
The Americans watch as the U-405 starts to move underneath them,
But not everything is going the Americans’ way.

Borie’s hull repairs

Deep in the engine compartment, engineers attempt speedy repairs as the water quickly rises.
Lucas and his men continue to work the turbines, battling through the water.
The ship moves forward, now laden with hundreds of tons of water filling up its hull.
Borie’s gunners continue to fire, but they can’t strike a final blow.
“Prepare torpedoes!”
One of USS Borie’s triple torpedo mounts stirs to life and aims its payload towards the target.
“Fire!”
A torpedo blasts out to sea, and tears a path towards the enemy – but misses.
Hopman is in a terrible position.
The ship’s managing, but only 15 of its 45-man crew remain.
Heimrich orders a hail mary.
“Turn around! Prepare torpedoes!”
On the USS Borie, the men see the U-405 turning around to attack.
Hutchins, though, has a plan…..
“Disable the searchlight!”
The light that had been so crucial to land accurate gunfire goes dark.
The men aboard the U-405 see the light go out.
Hopman is surprised.
This is their chance to escape.
“Abort torpedo attack! Turn to starboard!”
But USS Borie’s radar never lost sight of the submarine,
and Hutchins’ plan has worked…
“Enable the searchlight!”
The lights come back on, revealing U-405 immediately in front.
“Ram it!”
Without hesitation, the helmsman turns towards the submarine, aiming for a direct hit.

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U-405 tries to avoid ramming

Hopman sees it coming and orders evasive maneuvers.
U-405 makes a nimble turn to sneak past USS Borie’s starboard side,
but Hutchins won’t let it go that easily.
“Hard to starboard!”
The whole ship trembles as it strains through the maneuver,
stern swinging out towards the enemy and bringing depth charges into range.
“Fire depth charges!”
The canisters fly off the mounts and splash perfectly around the enemy ship.
The explosions send U-405 into a tumble, its hull is now breached beyond repair.
There’s silence across the water until the Germans fire out flares from their stricken U-boat.

German U-Boat crew surrender

It’s a signal to surrender.
Moments later, 15 survivors and their captain make their way out and board life rafts.
USS Borie inches close to the stricken men, seeing what they can do to help in the heaving waves.
But a lookout shouts to announce a flare in the distance, shortly followed by an incoming torpedo.
“Flare astern!”
“Torpedo in the water!”
They assume it’s another German submarine.
Hutchins immediately orders Borie to turn the stern towards the incoming torpedo to show a thin profile,
but that also sends Borie straight into the German life rafts.
The Borie’s crew are forced to abandon the German survivors who await rescue…
That rescue would never come
and the men of U-405 were all lost to the Atlantic.

USS Borie’s crew abandon ship

USS Borie wins the engagement, but is still mortally wounded.
The flooding cannot be stopped.
Lucas and his men continue operating the engines even as they have to dive to reach the valves.
Eventually, they evacuate through the roof hatch.
The crew abandon ship.
Tragically, the sea also claimed 27 of USS Borie’s 122 men before rescue ships arrived at the scene.
Both Lieutenant Commander Charles Harris Hutchins and Kenneth Miles Lucas survived the war.
Hutchins would be awarded the Navy Cross for his actions.
“Those Japanese are up to something at Midway,
What would their perspective look like?
Watch this film and find out.”