German submarine U-590

German submarine U-590 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

She carried out five patrols, was a member of six wolfpacks, sank one ship of 5,228 GRT and damaged one other of 5,464 GRT.

The boat was sunk by depth charges from a US aircraft, in July 1943.

Service history
The submarine was laid down on 31 October 1940 at Blohm & Voss, Hamburg as 'werk' 566, launched on 6 August 1941 and commissioned on 2 October under the command of Heinrich Müller-Edzards.

She served with the 6th U-boat Flotilla from 2 October 1941 for training and stayed with that organization for operations from 1 April 1942 until her loss.

1st and 2nd patrols
U-590's first patrol was from Kiel on 4 April 1942. She headed for the Atlantic Ocean via the 'gap' separating the Faroe and Shetland Islands. The boat arrived in St. Nazaire (from where she would be based for the rest of her career), in occupied France on the 17th.

Her second sortie was to mid-Atlantic but was relatively uneventful.

3rd patrol
U-590 left St. Nazaire on 11 August 1942 for what was, at 106 days, her longest patrol. By the 28th she had still not left the Bay of Biscay. The boat headed west on 1 September. She steamed south, so that on 14 September she was off Western Sahara. She reached the most southerly point of the patrol (off Sierra Leone and Liberia), on 9 October. The return journey saw her southeast of the Cape Verde Islands on 1 November. She returned to St. Nazaire without any success on 24 November.

4th patrol
The boat had left St. Nazaire on 31 January 1943, but it was not until 11 March that she encountered and damaged the Jamaica Producer. Although believed sunk, the ship managed to reach port; she was repaired and returned to service in May 1943. This ship survived the war.

Eleven days later (21 March), a crew member broke an arm in mid-Atlantic.

5th patrol and loss
The submarine sank the Pelotaslóide near the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil on 4 July 1943. The ship had been waiting for tugs before entering Salinas.

U-590 was sunk by depth charges dropped from a US PBY Catalina amphibian on 9 July 1943 near the Amazon Estuary. Forty-five men died with U-590; there were no survivors.