The sub., 1944-02-17
tied the sub crew at practically blank range.

able to get under way. In turn, the U-boat tried to ram the BORIE. Depth charges stopped until the submarine succumbed to the terri
 ic battering. There was an explo- sion and the U-boat went down.
 But the BORIE had received her death blow. The electric power, heating and radio plants had been knocked out during the battle. The forward engine room was flooded. The situation was desperate, for the BORIE was alone in the dark Atlantic. Finally an emergency gen. orator operating first on lighter fluid, then on mixture of alcohol and kerosene got radio message through to the CARD. Early next day planes from the CARD spot ted the BORIE and the other mem bers of the unit rejoined her. An all-day battle to save the ship proved futile. Just before darkness set in, orders were given to aban- don ship, and despite a heavy sea, this was done with the loss of only l ltWenCy-SeVen men.
 Hutchins speaks with glowing Ipraise of the performance of both the men aboard his ship and it's equipment in that last battle. Those turbines, for examplew he exclaims shaking his head. "Af- ter we had rammed the sub. they operated under water through the rest of the action. The forward engine room was flooded and the water rose completely above the high pressure turbines, but even though they were 23 years old, they never faltered.
 Neither did the reduction gears. They had always been my pride and joy. They ran like Swiss watch without a murmur, even when we hit 25 knots. They were so smooth and sharp, they almost had a square edge on them!
 Both the BORIE's engineering plant. and her men were well known throughout the entire fleet. But they gave their greatest per- formance in that last battle. Lieu tenant Brown, Pagnotta, Shockley, Trenz, Green and Saum stayed with those engines in water that was up to their necks. Ensign Jeff ferris, Robinson, Brabant, and Pow CTS were a fire control party all through the shooting. With all four boilers letting off steam at the rate of 250 pounds, they went down in the fire room and suc- ceeded in controlling the damage in the after engine room.
 Tt was Saum who volunteered to secure the drain, diving down into the bilge without hesitation, a job I wouldn't have tackled for all the world.
 When our generator flooded early in the action cutting off our power, naturally we were without lights. Below decks we had only our battle lanterns to rely on. But they didn't fail once. TopSide the Germans concentrated on trying to shoot out our ,searchlight so they might slip away in the dark, but they couldn't escape that re- vealing finger of light.
 Tt was the fire and bilge pumps in the after engine room that en- abled us to continue the action and finally get under way. Despite the fact that it was salt water steam, they operated perfectly, as did our blowers and condensers. After the first explosion we tested our water immediately and it was quite clean. And if that emergency generator hadn't operated on light CT fluid, we might not have been l found in time.
 Last but not least, there were those 20mm guns. 1 never saw anything like the way they per- formed. They worked like dream, firing continuously for almost an hour. They got so hot that you couldn't touch them but they kept
 right on plugging away at the
 enemy. I couldn't say too much in praise of the 20's or their am- munition,"
 The epic story of the BORIE demonstrates once more the fun damenal truth of modern war that there is really no dividing line be- tween the effort on the battle front and that on the production front. TJpon the quality of their