USSBorie (DD-704)

For other ships with the same name, seeUSS Borie.

USSBorie (DD-704), anAllen M. Sumner-class destroyer, was the second ship of theUnited States Navy to be named forAdolph E. Borie,Secretary of the Navy under PresidentUlysses S. Grant.

History
USSBorie wearingcamouflage paint, date and location unknown.
United States
Name	Borie
Namesake	Adolph E. Borie
Builder	Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
Laid down	29 February 1944
Launched	4 July 1944
Commissioned	21 September 1944
Decommissioned	1 July 1972
Stricken	1 July 1972
Fate	ToArgentina 1 July 1972
Argentina
Name	Hipólito Bouchard
Namesake	Hippolyte de Bouchard
Acquired	1 July 1972
Decommissioned	1984
Stricken	1984
Identification	D-26
Fate	Broken up for scrap 1984
General characteristics
Class and type	Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer
Displacement	2,200 tons
Length	376 ft 6 in (114.76 m)
Beam	40 ft (12 m)
Draft	15 ft 8 in (4.78 m)
Propulsion	60,000 shp (45,000 kW); 2 propellers
Speed	34 kn (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range	6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	336
Armament	6 ×5 in (130 mm)/38 guns 12 ×40 mm AA guns, 11 ×20 mm AA guns, 10 ×21 inch (533 mm)torpedo tubes, 6 ×depth charge projectors, 2 × depth charge tracks

Construction

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Borie (DD-704) waslaunched on 4 July 1944 by Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.,Kearny, New Jersey sponsored by Mrs Albert Nalle (née Patty Neill Borie, great-grandniece ofAdolph E. Borie); andcommissioned on 21 September 1944.

Service history

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World War II

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Borie joined thePacific Fleet, arriving atPearl Harbor 4 January 1945. She took part in theBattle of Iwo Jima, both the bombardment (24 January) and invasion (19–23 February). After joiningTask Force 58, she participated in theTokyo raids (16–17 and 25 February),Okinawa raid (1 March), and the raids in support of the occupation of Okinawa (17 March–14 May). From 9 July to 9 August, she served withTask Force 38 in itsraids on the Japanese home islands. On 9 August, fourkamikazes attempted to crash intoBorie, one achieving a hit on superstructure between the mast and the 5-inch gun director, causing extensive damage, killing 48 men, and wounding 66. The 3 other were shot down or missed. Due to the hit theBorie's rudder was locked.^[1]

Korean War

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The damaged destroyer returned toSaipan and Pearl Harbor for temporary repairs and on 10 September entereddry dock atHunter's Point, California, for permanent repairs. Repairs completed on 20 November, she departedSan Diego 4 February 1946 to join theAtlantic Fleet.Borie remained in the Atlantic Fleet, except for one cruise toKorea (6 September 1950 – 9 June 1951), during which she served with TF 77 and took part in theHungnam Evacuation.Borie made at least five European and Mediterranean cruises. During a deployment (28 July-4 December 1956), she assisted in the evacuation of American nationals and United Nations truce teams from Haifa, Israel and Gaza, Egypt. She returned to more routine operations, with a few notable exceptions, her 1959 recovery of theProject Mercury nose cone and Sam, the space monkey and her 1960 surveillance duties with thePolaris missile submarines George Washington Carver andRobert E. Lee.

In 1961 she completed herFleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) overhaul. In the Caribbean in 1962, she rescued nine Cubans seeking asylum in the U.S. and, later, three Jamaican fishermen, and then joined the U.S. blockade during theCuban Missile Crisis whereBorie participated in forcing a diesel-powered Russian submarine to the surface, then offered the submarine aid and supplies.Borie, with two other destroyers, escorted the submarine out of the area. During the night,Borie received orders to head for the Panama Canal and wait for 20 amphibious ships from the west coast to establish an attack task force. Over the ensuing years, she acquired a Drone Antisubmarine Helicopter (DASH) system and during a Mediterranean deployment, rescued anF-8 Crusader pilot whose plane crashed in a landing attempt on theaircraft carrier Shangri-La.

Vietnam War and decommissioning

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In February 1968,Borie began herVietnam deployment, serving in theGulf of Tonkin asplane guard and completing radar picket duty. On the gun line, her gunners fired over 7,000 rounds at enemy positions atPhan Thiet and in theMekong Delta. Returning to peacetime operations in 1969,Borie became anaval reserve training ship until June 1972, when she was decommissioned. She was struck from theNaval Vessel Register on 1 July 1972.

Service in the Argentine Navy

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For other ships with the same name, seeARA Bouchard.

She was sold to theArgentine Navy and renamedHipólito Bouchard (D-26) after the Argentineprivateer,Hippolyte Bouchard and had fourExocet anti-ship missiles fitted in 1977–78.^[2] ARABouchard saw action in theFalklands War, forming a part of the escort for the aircraft carrierVeinticinco de Mayo during theinitial Argentine invasion on 2 April 1982. On 26 AprilBouchard andsister ship Piedra Buena formed the escort for thecruiser ARA General Belgrano whenBelgrano set out fromUshuaia in response to the approaching British Task Force, and was present when on 2 May 1982,Belgrano was torpedoed and sunk.^[3]In author Michael Rossiters' 'Sink the Belgrano', (Random House, London, 2009), it says Belgrano was unable to send any Mayday signal because of electrical failure; this and poor visibility meant the two escorting destroyers, (both also ex-United States Navy vessels), were unaware of the sinking until some hours later. A total of 323 men were killed. During the torpedo attack, the crew felt an impact which was believed to have been one of the three torpedoes fired fromHMS Conqueror. They later found four cracks in the hull which were thought to have been a torpedoe striking at the end of its run.^[4]^[5]

On the night of 17/18 May a helicopter was tracked by the radar ofBouchard, who sent a message to her sister shipARAPiedrabuena, patrolling on the north, and then to the naval base of Río Grande.^[6] In fact, aSH-3 Sea King reconnaissance mission on Río Grande had been launched by the British fromHMS Invincible as a prelude toOperation Mikado, but after detecting the Argentine radar signal, the crew of the Sea King and members of the SAS flew to Chile, where they destroyed their aircraft.^[7] Argentine Navy reports claim thatBouchard shelled a submarine and a number of inflatable boats while on patrol two miles off Rio Grande on the evening of 16 May 1982, during an alleged British attempt to land special forces on Tierra del Fuego.^[8]

She was broken up for scrap in 1984.

Awards

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Borie received threebattle stars for her World War II services and four battle stars for her participation in theKorean War.

Notes

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^"William Alexion".StoryCorps Archive. Retrieved30 January 2023.
^Gardiner & Chumbley 1995, p. 7
^Burdenet al 1986, pp. 179–182
^Branfill-Cook, Roger (2014).Torpedo: The Complete History of the World's Most Revolutionary Naval Weapon. Seaforth Publishing. p. 231.ISBN 9781848322158.
^Sethia, Narendra (18 October 2000)."Hit by two torpedoes".The Guardian.
^Mikado: la operación que no fueArchived 22 April 2009 at theWayback Machine(in Spanish)
^Anderson, Duncan (2002).The Falklands War 1982. Volume 15 of Essential histories. Osprey Publishing, p. 43.ISBN 1-84176-422-1
^El Bouchard y el Fracaso de la Operación Británica Mikado by Eugenio L. Facchin y José L. Speroni(in Spanish)

References

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This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.

Burden, Rodney A.; Draper, Michael I; Rough, Douglas A.; Smith, Colin R.; Wilton, David (1986).Falklands: The Air War. Twickenham, UK: British Aviation Research Group.ISBN 0-906339-05-7.
Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen, eds. (1995).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-55750-132-7.