German submarine U-759

German submarine U-759 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 15 November 1940 at the Kriegsmarinewerft yard at Wilhelmshaven, launched on 30 May 1942, and commissioned on 15 August 1942 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Rudolf Friedrich.

After training with 5th U-boat Flotilla at Kiel, Germany, on 1 February 1943 U-759 was transferred to 9th U-boat Flotilla, based in Brest, France, for front-line service. She sailed on two combat patrols and sank two ships totalling. U-759 was sunk east of Jamaica on 15 July 1943 by depth charges from a US Navy Mariner patrol bomber. All hands were lost.

1st patrol
U-759 first sailed from Kiel on 2 February 1943, and out into the Atlantic, south of Greenland. She had no successes, and arrived at Lorient, France on 14 March after 41 days.

2nd patrol
U-759 left Lorient on 7 June 1943 and sailed across the Atlantic to the Caribbean Sea. There on 5 July, about 70 miles west of Port-Salut, Haiti, she torpedoed the 3,513 ton American merchant ship Maltran, part of Convoy GTMO-134. The ship sank in 15 minutes, but all 47 aboard escaped in lifeboats, and were picked up by USS SC-1279.

Two days later, on 7 July, the U-boat torpedoed and sank the 9,251 ton Dutch cargo ship Poelau Roebiah, in convoy TAG-70, east of Jamaica. All but two of the 68 crew, along with 24 armed guards and 31 US passengers abandoned ship in four lifeboats and were later rescued. After sinking the Dutch ship the U-boat was pursued and attacked by the United States destroyer USS Tattnall (DD-125), but escaped. The next day, 8 July, U-759 was spotted and attacked by a United States Navy scout aircraft. Allied surface ships attacked for seven hours, but the U-boat evaded them and escaped unharmed.

U-759's luck finally ran out on 15 July 1943, when she was sunk by depth charges from a US Navy Mariner aircraft from Squadron VP-32 in the Caribbean, in approximate position 15.96667°N, -73.73333°W. All 47 crew were lost.