German submarine U - 405 German submarine " U - 405 " was a Type VIIC U - boat of the Nazi German " Kriegsmarine " during World War II . The U - boat was laid down on 8 July 1940 at the Danziger Werft shipyard at Danzig , launched on 4 June 1941 and commissioned on 17 September 1941 . She was commanded by " Korvettenkapitän " Rolf - Heinrich Hopman . After her commissioning , " U - 405 " joined the 8th U - boat Flotilla for training , before serving with the 1st , 11th and 6th U - boat flotilla s under operational conditions . Patrol history . Of her eight war patrols , only on the sixth did " U - 405 " sink any ships . On 28 February 1943 , south - west of Iceland , she sank the 7 , 176 - ton American liberty ship SS " Wade Hampton " . A straggler from Convoy HX 227 , " Wade Hampton " was en route to Murmansk from New York , carrying 8 , 000 tons of general cargo , including ammunition , weapons , foodstuffs and a deck cargo of transport equipment and two PT boat s ( RPT - 1 and RPT - 3 ) . Nine days later , on 9 March 1943 , " U - 405 " sank the 4 , 665 - ton Norwegian ship " Bonneville " which was en route from New York to Liverpool as part of Convoy SC 121 , and carrying 7 , 196 tons of general cargo , explosives and the tank landing craft HMS " LCT - 2341 " as deck cargo . After this success , " U - 405 " s seventh war patrol began badly , when at 19 . 24 hours on 4 May 1943 , only two days out of Saint - Nazaire , the boat was attacked in the Bay of Biscay by a British Halifax GR . II Series IA bomber of 502 Squadron , RAF Coastal Command . The aircraft dropped three bombs , causing an oil leak that that could not be repaired , prompting the captain to abort the patrol on 12 May . While returning home , on 18 May , northwest of Cape Finisterre , " U - 405 " was bombed again , this time by an Australian Sunderland patrol bomber of 10 Squadron , although she escaped without any damage . Sinking . On the 23rd day of her eighth and final patrol , 1 November 1943 , " U - 405 " was engaged by the destroyer at . The destroyer initially fired depth charge s , after which " U - 405 " came ( and was probably forced ) to the surface . " Borie " then rammed " U - 405 . " After the ramming , " Borie " was high - centered on top of " U - 405 " , and until they separated , exchanges of small arms fire took place . This was a unique battle : unlike other modern naval actions , it was decided by ramming and small arms fire at extremely close range . Normally , in a surface engagement the superior armament and greater 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 ) guns enough to engage , while all of the submarine ' s armament could be brought to bear . " Borie ' s " crew had a limited number of small arms , the German deck mounts were completely open and had no protection . In the extended and bitter fighting that ensued , dozens of German sailors were killed in desperate attempts to man the 88 mm ( 3 . 5 inch ) deck gun . Their casualties included those struck by a sheath - knife and a 4 inch cartridge case . At this point , about 35 of the German crew of 49 had been killed or lost overboard . " Borie " had been badly damaged and was moving at a reduced speed , while the submarine was still capable of maneuvering at a similar speed . " U - 405 " s tighter turning radius effectively prevented the " Borie " from bringing her superior firepower to bear ; Hopman did a masterful job of maneuvering his badly damaged boat with his remaining crew . [ 4 ] " Borie " shut - off her searchlight , her crew hoping that " U - 405 " would attempt to escape and provide a better target for her guns . The submarine did indeed attempt to speed away , and " Borie " switched her searchlight back on and turned to bring her guns and a depth charge thrower to bear . The submarine was bracketed by shallow - set depth charges and struck by a 4 inch shell , and came to a stop . " Borie " crew observed about 14 sailors signalling their surrender and abandoning ship in yellow rubber rafts . Hutchins gave the order to cease fire ; several of them were apparently wounded , being loaded into the rafts on stretchers by their shipmates . The last to leave the stricken ship was wearing an officer ' s cap . " 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 . [ 5 ] Hutchins reported later : < br > " 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 . " [ 5 ] The survivors were observed firing Very star - shells : " 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 to 50 - 60 yards off the port bow . But as it turned out , the Germans were signalling 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 , Borie had no choice but to protect herself by sailing away . She was forced to sail through " U - 405 " s rafts as she turned away from the other U - boat , but the men on the rafts were observed firing another Very flare as the " Borie " steamed away in a radical zigzag pattern . No German survivors were ever recovered by either side ; all 49 crewmen were lost . " Borie " lost three officers and 27 crew members , and was too badly damaged by the collision to be towed to port . The next day , her crew was ordered to abandon ship and she was sunk by . Raiding history . * Being carried aboard the " Wade Hampton " < br > * * Being carried aboard the " Bonneville "