The history of the submarine fleet is full of tragic events that happened on all oceans and seas during the Second World War. The night storm battle between the American destroyer Borie (DD-215 "Borie") and the German submarine U-405 in the waters of the North Atlantic stands apart.
Submarines and destroyers commonly used torpedoes and depth charges. But early in the morning of November 1, 1943, during the battle, a ram, shotguns, cartridges and even a knife were used as weapons. A dramatic duel, during which the crew of each vessel demonstrated skill, courage and perseverance.
Captain of thirty
In the fall of 1943, Bori was part of a search and strike group created around the aircraft carrier Card (CVE-11 "Card"). The commander of the Borie was Lieutenant Commander Charles G. Hutchins, 30, the youngest destroyer captain in the fleet at the time. After escorting convoys in the Atlantic, the group headed north at the end of October, past the Azores, as submarine hunters.
The destroyer "Borie" (DD-215 "Borie") had a total displacement of 1699 tons; travel speed - 35uz; main caliber guns - 4x102 mm. Auxiliary / anti-aircraft artillery consisted of 1x76-mm guns, 6x7, 62-mm machine guns. Mine and torpedo armament: 4x3 x 533 mm TA. Team - 122 people. Laid down on 1919-30-04, commissioned on 1920-24-03.
On November 1, 1943, a bright spot appeared on the radar screen of the destroyer Bori at a distance of 7300 m: radar contact with a submarine! Hutchins increases the speed of the vessel to 27 knots, jumping up and down the waves, the height of which reached 4 m, holding the signal until it is lost at 2500 m. The Borie slows down to 15 knots and establishes sonar sound contact at 1800 m. distance up to 450 m, the command of the "Bori" destroyer conducts depth charges. When the destroyer sailed away from the point of attack, during the procedure for restoring the sound contact, it was noticed that after a characteristic hiss, a submarine appeared on the surface of the water illuminated by a searchlight.
The destroyer will keep U-405 illuminated for the entire battle, with one short exception. Lighting made it possible to see the emblem of the 11th Kriegsmarine submarine flotilla, a polar bear, on the wheelhouse of a light gray submarine.
Hutchins opened fire with 102-mm guns and 20-mm machine guns from a distance of 1300 meters and went to approach, the boat also began firing. Thus began a battle, one of the strangest of the war, as brutal as it was unusual.
Night and waves
Submarine U-405, series VIIC, surface displacement 769 t, speed 17/7, 5 knots, 4 bow and 1 stern torpedo tubes, 1x88mm + 1x20mm guns.
At the time of the sinking, the crew consisted of 49 people. Laid down on 1940-08-07, entered service on 1941-17-09.
The commander of U-405 is corvette captain Rolf-Heinrich Hopman.
While the shells flew over the submarine's wheelhouse and the bullets of the Oerlikon 20mm automatic cannons tore through the metal, the submarine's artillery crew ran to the cannon. Bursts of six 20mm cannons mounted at the stern of the wheelhouse punched holes in the bridge and middle of the destroyer's hull.
Night, 4-meter waves, ships hurling like splinters, the darkness is cut by flashes of converging streams of 20-mm bullets and the roar of guns, the screams of the dying and wounded.
U-405 fought desperately, the gun crew lay dead, and without having time to fire a single shot, other crew members rushed to it when a salvo from the destroyer's 102-mm guns swept the gun off the submarine's deck.
Spinning like an eel, the corvette-captain Hopman, using the boat's excellent maneuverability, tried to break away, Hutchins demonstrated excellent navigation, and the Bory did not let out of the enemy's searchlight, beating him mercilessly. At some point, a sailor appeared at the wheelhouse of the boat, waving his arms, as if asking the Americans not to shoot. Lieutenant Hutchins ordered a ceasefire. But the gunner of one crew of 20-mm machine guns took off his headphones and, continuing to fire, literally tore apart the gesticulating German sailor. U-405 began to maneuver again and the battle continued.
Cannon at the stern
Bob Maher, Borye crew member:
… shortly before this, the gun commander's telephone lines had become entangled in empty casings that rolled across the deck. Angry, he tore off the phones and threw them on the deck. Seeing a man waving on the deck of U-405, Captain Hutchins ordered “cease fire,” but the cannon in the stern continued to fire. Hutchins tried to shout to the command of the gun, "Cease fire, cease fire", unfortunately he was not heard. Seeing this one man standing alone in the midst of destruction and gunfire was amazing. This did not last long, because after a few moments the body was still standing, arms extended, but the head disappeared. If the confused telephone line had not caused the death of this man, it would have been the most courageous of the team to so voluntarily under fire, to signal surrender.
Determined to prevent U-405 from escaping, Hutchins increased his speed to 25 knots and rammed. Hopman tried to avoid the blow, but began a dodging maneuver to the left too late.
The sudden wave lifted the Bori upward and fell onto the deck of U-405 at the bow of the submarine, at a 30-degree angle. For the next ten minutes, they would be locked in a deadly embrace.
The destroyer's guns could no longer shoot at the boat. An American review of the fight, published by the United States Admiralty, states:
… Lieutenant Brown fires at the wheelhouse and deck from the Tommy Gun, Stoke Southwick killed a German with a thrown knife, Walter S. Cruz knocks down a German sailor from the deck with a 102-mm shell.
The destroyer's sailors fired from everything that was at hand: machine guns, flare pistols, rifles.
German submariners tried unsuccessfully to get to their 20mm guns. When one was killed in his place, the next ran out of the wheelhouse. Courage or Despair?
Suddenly the waves that had previously linked the ships together sharply separated them. This allowed the destroyer and the submarine to continue the battle. When the mortally wounded boat departed, Hutchins realized that his ship was seriously damaged. The forward engine room was completely flooded, but the enemy was still alive, and Hutchins led the damaged destroyer in pursuit.
Chase
Corvette Captain Hopman undertook a series of evasive maneuvers, trying to break away and retired 350 meters from the destroyer. This allowed the Bori to open fire from its main battery. One of the shells hit the diesel exhaust on the starboard side of the submarine and possibly damaged the aft torpedo tube. Then the destroyer fired a torpedo at U-405, but to no avail.
The submarine began to rotate in a circle, and the destroyer, due to its very wide turning radius, could not keep up with it. During this maneuvering, Lieutenant Hutchins noticed that U-405 was constantly trying to turn stern towards the Bori, possibly intending to attack the Bori. He ordered to extinguish the searchlight so as not to reveal the location of the ship. The submarine tried to hide in the night. The destroyer, having increased her speed to 27 knots, tracked the position of the boat using radar, reaching an advantageous position for the attack.
Despite the damage to the ship, Hutchins wanted to repeat another ramming attempt. The searchlight was turned on, and he again found himself in the path of the collision of U-405, which, in turn, tried to ram the Bori into the starboard side. Hutchins sharply turns the destroyer to the left and launches a depth charge attack in front of the submarine's bow. The submarine is literally thrown out of the water and it stops two meters from the starboard side of the "Bori".
Interchange
Was it the end? No! U-405 turned to the stern of the destroyer and tried to sail away, but at a significantly reduced speed. Maneuvering, Hutchins again fires a torpedo, which passes 3 meters from the boat. Only after a hail of new attacks from 102-mm guns that hit the starboard side, the submarine stopped. A stream of white, red and green rockets soared into the sky from U-405. This time Lieutenant Hutchins communicated the ceasefire order to all gun crews. The shooting died down after an hour-long battle. One or two people emerged from the wheelhouse and began tossing yellow rubber liferafts into the water. They were tied together and gave the appearance of very large hot dogs. U-405 quickly settled aft, and what was left of the crew, about 15-20 people, managed to get off and get onto the rafts. The submarine plunged vertically into the cold waters of the Atlantic. The German submariners on their rafts continued to fire flares as the destroyer slowly moved towards them to pick them up. Suddenly, the destroyer's sonar transmits that he hears the noise of a torpedo. The destroyer carries out an anti-torpedo maneuver, as a result of which it passes over the liferafts of the survivors and leaves with the maximum possible speed.
By dawn on November 1, only one engine was running, and salt water contaminated the ship's fuel. The destroyer's lower armor in the bow and on the sides was badly damaged. Bullet holes from U-405 shells gaped everywhere on the ship, there was water in the hold. The front engine room was finally flooded, causing generators to stop and power wasted. The loss of all electrical power made the ship extremely difficult to control and repair. The emergency radio was turned off, there was a heavy fog, and the ship was rapidly gaining water. Any remaining fuel had to be used to keep the pumps running, trying to outrun the incoming water. To help keep the ship afloat, Hutchins gave orders to lighten the ship. Anything that could be thrown away was thrown overboard. But the ship continued to sink slowly into the water. Only at 11 o'clock. 10 min. the aircraft carrier Kard received a distress signal from the destroyer. Destroyers "Goff" (DD-247 "Goff") and "Barry" (DD-248 "Barry") were sent to the rescue. The Avengers took off from the aircraft carrier, and their crews found Bori.
At 16 o'clock. 10 min. due to the threat of a sudden overturning of the ship, Lieutenant Hutchins gave the order to leave the destroyer. The crew put on life jackets and got over to the life rafts. Due to the low water temperature (+7 ° C), 4-meter waves and severe exhaustion, three officers and 24 sailors never received help.
"Goff" and "Barry" at dawn on November 2 tried to sink DD-215 with torpedoes, but to no avail. It was only after the bombing of the Avengers that Borie finally sank at 09 hours 55 minutes. November 2, 1943.
This fierce battle between the US Navy destroyer and the Kriegsmarine submarine in November 1943, along with a similar fierce battle on May 6, 1944 west of the Cape Verde Islands between the US destroyer Buckley and U-66, formed the basis of the script for the feature film Duel. in the Atlantic "(original:" The enemy is under us ").
In 1958, the film won an Oscar for Best Special Effects.
