German submarine U-596

German submarine U-596 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for the Nazi German Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was laid down on 4 January 1941 by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg as 'werk' 572, launched on 17 September 1941 and commissioned on 13 November under Kapitänleutnant Gunter Jahn. He was replaced on 28 July 1943 by Oberleutnant Victor-Whilhelm Noon who was superseded by Oblt. Hans Kolbus in July 1944.

The boat's service began on 13 November 1941 with training as part of the 8th U-boat Flotilla. She was transferred to the 3rd flotilla on 1 July 1942 and moved on to the 29th flotilla on 19 November.

Operational career
In 12 patrols she sank 12 ships, including one warship for a total of 41,411 GRT.

Her initial sortie from Kiel was cut short by a battery explosion on 28 June 1942. She was obliged to put into Bergen in Norway.

1st patrol
Her first patrol saw her depart Bergen on 8 August 1942, cross the North Sea and move through the gap between Iceland and the Faroe Islands into the Atlantic. There she sank the Suecia with a torpedo on 16 August, having first checked the ships' papers. She also sank the Empire Hartebeeste on 20 September, but was attacked by HNoMS Potentilla and HMS Viscount on 24 August. No damage was sustained. U-596 lost a man overboard on 30 August in mid-Atlantic. The boat then docked at St. Nazaire in occupied France on 3 October.

2nd patrol
Her next foray from St. Nazaire took the U-boat as part of group 'Delphin' to La Spezia in northern Italy. Her route involved passing the heavily defended Strait of Gibraltar, which she successfully accomplished in the darkness during the period of the new moon from 8–10 November 1942.

3rd and 4th patrols
U-596's third patrol took her past the Balearic Islands to the Algerian coast near Oran. It was unsuccessful.

Her fourth foray yielded some reward. Between Algiers and Oran she damaged the Fort Norman and the Empire Standard, both on 9 March 1943.

5th and 6th patrols
Her fifth outing, in the same area as her third and fourth patrols, was rewarded with the sinking of the Fort a la Corne west of Algiers on 30 March 1943.

Her home port was moved from La Spezia to Pola in Croatia; she sailed from there on her sixth patrol, but it was uneventful.

7th and 8th patrols
Patrol number seven was marked by the sinking of several Egyptian, a Palestinian and British-registered sailing ships off the Lebanon coast with her deck gun in August and September 1943.

During her eighth patrol, she sank the Marit off the Libyan coast on 4 October, but was attacked by the British corvette HMS Gloxina. Although slightly damaged, the U-boat escaped.

9th, 10th and 11th patrols
U-596 departed Pola on 30 November but it was not until many days later that she sank the Troop Transport Cap Padaran off Cape Spartivento in Italy on 9 December. She returned to Pola on 28 December 1943.

Another unsuccessful patrol passed between 12 February and 11 March 1944.

The boat barely left the Adriatic for patrol number eleven.

12th patrol
What turned out to be the last complete patrol by a U-boat in the Mediterranean began with U-596's departure from Pola on 29 July 1944. Her route was to the Gulf of Sirte on the Libyan coast. Her arrival at Salmis in Greece was followed by the USAAF (United States Army Air Forces) bombing the port on 29 September (USAAF records say the 25th). The boat was sufficiently damaged that the crew were forced to abandon her and join the general retreat through Athens.

Fate
The submarine was scuttled on 24 September 1944 in Skaramanga Bay, near Salamis in position 37.98333°N, 23.56667°W. 1 person died; the number of survivors is unknown.