This is the story of the USS Borie (DD-215) as part of the antisubmarine Hunter-Killer Group and its battle with German submarines in the North Atlantic from 31 October to 1 November 1943. Ensign Richard E. St. Johns served as a member of the crew and one of the twenty-seven who were lost following the battle with U-405. The battle started when the USS Borie got a radar contact on the U-256 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 the U-256 made it home badly damaged, Hutchins believed the target to be sunk, and signaled the Card: “Scratch one pig boat; am searching for more."

 

The Borie then got another radar contact about 26 miles from the first, at 0153 hours on 1 November 1943, range 8000 yds and charged in to engage. The Borie engaged U-405 before dawn in 15-foot 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. The Borie then came about for another attack, engaging with 4-inch and 20 mm gunfire at a range of 400 yd. 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 88 mm gun and took aim for their first shot at the Borie's waterline; but the 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 the 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, the Borie was high-centered on top of the 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. The 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 the 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 the 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 (102 mm) and 3-inch (76 mm) 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. The 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 the Borie's spotlight and met by a hail of gunfire. The Borie's resourceful crew engaged the enemy with whatever was at hand: Thompson’s, rifles, pistols, shotguns intended for riot control, and even a flare gun. Borie's executive officer and a signalman fired effectively from the bridge with Thompson machine guns throughout the fight. One German sailor was hit in the chest with a flare. One of the Oerlikon 20 mm cannon was also able to continue firing, with devastating effect.

 

The 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. The 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 the 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. Finally, the U-405 and the 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. The Borie had been badly damaged and was moving at a reduced speed, while the sub was still capable of maneuvering at a similar speed. The U-405's tighter turning radius effectively prevented the Boriefrom 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.

 

The Borie shut off her searchlight, with her crew hoping the U-405 would attempt to escape and provide a better target for gunfire. The submarine did attempt to speed away, and the 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. The 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. The 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, When the submarine sank, there was a yell that went up from all hands — it probably could be heard in Berlin. The men were clasping each other and patting each other on the back, and all during the action, there were times when it was actually comical to observe the situation, particularly with the submarine pinned underneath ... heretofore their one dream had been to catch a submarine, depth charge him, bring him to the surface and then to sink him with gunfire, this particular action more than justified their hopes.

 

The survivors were observed firing flares: the 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 50-60 yards off the port bow. But as it turned out, the Germans were signaling 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 the Borie had no choice but to protect herself by sailing away. No German survivors were ever recovered by either side; all 49 crewmen were lost.

 

The stress of the wave action from the 15-foot waves, as the Borie was pinned against the U-boat's hull, had caused damage to key operating systems throughout the ship. The crew battled to save the ship, but based on its position and enemy submarines in the area, it was determined ship had to be sunk and the Captain ordered his exhausted crew to abandon ship. Despite the sporadic machine gun and small arms fire from U-405, none of the Borie's crewmen had been killed during the engagement, although several were wounded. But due to 44 °F water, 20-foot waves, high winds and severe exhaustion, three officers and 24 enlisted men were lost during the rescue operation including Ensign St. John.

 

Ensign Richard E. St. John had pulled himself halfway up a life line into the Goff when he dropped back into the water to help four men who were too far gone to help themselves. They made it. Ensign St. John was caught under the destroyer and drowned. The USS Borie was sunk on 2 November from a bomb from an Avenger. For the final battle, Borie crewmembers were awarded three Navy Cross medals, two Silver Star medals and one Legion of Merit medal.

 

An article named: USS Borie’s Last Battle which mentions Ensign St. John is featured in the 13 DEC 1943 issue of Life Magazine on page 103 as well as the book “Of Men and War also describes the battle and his loss. R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium is named in his honor in Kilgore, Texas. Ensign St. John was a former Texas Tech and Austin College standout in football became the high schools head coach in 1941.

 

 

Close up of his engraved Purple Heart and his photo.

Painting of the battle from 1943.

An amazing story and one of the "truth is stranger than fiction" stories for sure. Thank you for sharing!

Amazing story and group. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Very nice group !

Holy cow...

That's outstanding! I wrote about the Borie in my book Blue Seas, Red Stars. I've never seen a posthumous group to one of the crew members though - pretty amazing!

Very nice history!

I've been told that the novel "The Enemy Below" and later the movie might have been based somewhat on the USS Borie and this battle. Not sure if that is true or not but looks like I'll be watching that movie again.

Amazing story and group...thank you for sharing!

 

Mike

Thanks for sharing. Great photos and presentation of this mans story. R.I.P. Sailor.

Great write up of a story I didnt know much about!

 

Pete

Missed this first time around, great group.  Tin can sub hunting,  Atlantic 1942.

 

 

On 9/23/2018 at 12:02 PM, kcmo said:

I've been told that the novel "The Enemy Below" and later the movie might have been based somewhat on the USS Borie and this battle. Not sure if that is true or not but looks like I'll be watching that movie again.

That is what I thought of also.