Borie had been badly damaged and was moving at a reduced speed, while the sub was still capable of maneuvering at a similar speed. U-405s tighter turning radius effectively prevented Borie from 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. Borie shut off her searchlight, with her crew hoping U-405 would attempt to escape and provide a better target for gunfire. The submarine did attempt to speed away, and 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. Bories 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. 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, The survivors were observed firing star shells: Bories crew believed this to be a distress signal, and maneuvered in an attempt to recover them from their rubber rafts, as they approached 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, and Borie had no choice but to protect herself by sailing away. Borie was forced to sail through the U-405 survivors' rafts as she turned away from the other U-boat, but the men on the rafts were observed firing another Very flare as Borie steamed away in a radical zigzag pattern. No German survivors were ever recovered by either side; all 49 crewmen were lost. A jubilant radio report of the sinking of U-405 was sent to Card after the engagement, before the extent of the ship's damage was fully realized. Then her radio fell silent. Borie attempted to reach her scheduled rendezvous with the rest of the Card Task Group, planned for shortly after sunrise. Scuttling of Borie Because of the loss of