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You may dig this. I am no Naval historian or anything, but I once read a short blurb of a story about a ship named the USS Borie which had been engaged in one of the strangest naval battles of WWII. It got me kind of obssed with learning more about the story.
The Borie, by the time WWII rolled around was old. The ship had been built in 1919 and had seen lots of action around the world. In 1943 it became part of a group of ships hunting U-Boats off the east coast of America. Anyway, they enganed a German U-Boat and forced it to the surface after chasing it around and launching depth charges at it.
The ship ended up trying to ram the sub, but just before they hit it, a big wave lifted the ship and set it down on the bow of the sumbarine! They were locked together for 15 minutes. The sailors opened up the armory and started shooting the sub with hand guns, sub machine guns and even flare guns! There was a guy on the ship was massive. He actually threw empty shell casings at the Germans and several accounts say that he actually knocked one guy off the deck of the sub into the ocean with one. The Germans were trying to get out of the conning tower and to their deck gun to fire back, but none were successful due to the heavy fire from the Borie sailors.
They got untangled and the sub exploded and sank shortly after the encounter. The Borie was fatally wounded and the crew had to abandon ship the following evening as the ship was sinking and the boilers were nearly submerged. 49 died on the sub and about 30 men from the Borie died in the cold waters of the north Atlantic. The vast majority of the crew was saved by the other ships in the sub hunting group.
The Borie went out in a blaze of glory though as the USS Barry was tasked with putting the ship under. It's guns finished the job.
This is selliing the story WAY short. Read the full accounts below, they are enthralling.
These are the declassified Naval documents involving the encounter and it's just awesome stuff:
Here is an electronic copy of a Time magazine story that ran shortly after the battle in 1943:
Brian
The Borie, by the time WWII rolled around was old. The ship had been built in 1919 and had seen lots of action around the world. In 1943 it became part of a group of ships hunting U-Boats off the east coast of America. Anyway, they enganed a German U-Boat and forced it to the surface after chasing it around and launching depth charges at it.
The ship ended up trying to ram the sub, but just before they hit it, a big wave lifted the ship and set it down on the bow of the sumbarine! They were locked together for 15 minutes. The sailors opened up the armory and started shooting the sub with hand guns, sub machine guns and even flare guns! There was a guy on the ship was massive. He actually threw empty shell casings at the Germans and several accounts say that he actually knocked one guy off the deck of the sub into the ocean with one. The Germans were trying to get out of the conning tower and to their deck gun to fire back, but none were successful due to the heavy fire from the Borie sailors.
They got untangled and the sub exploded and sank shortly after the encounter. The Borie was fatally wounded and the crew had to abandon ship the following evening as the ship was sinking and the boilers were nearly submerged. 49 died on the sub and about 30 men from the Borie died in the cold waters of the north Atlantic. The vast majority of the crew was saved by the other ships in the sub hunting group.
The Borie went out in a blaze of glory though as the USS Barry was tasked with putting the ship under. It's guns finished the job.
This is selliing the story WAY short. Read the full accounts below, they are enthralling.
These are the declassified Naval documents involving the encounter and it's just awesome stuff:
Here is an electronic copy of a Time magazine story that ran shortly after the battle in 1943:
Brian
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