German submarine U-439

German submarine U-439 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

She carried out four patrols. She sank no ships.

She was a member of six wolfpacks.

She was sunk after a collision with another U-boat in May 1943.

Service history
The submarine was laid down on 1 October 1940 at F. Schicau GmbH in Danzig (now Gdansk) as 'werk' 1490, launched on 11 October 1941 and commissioned on 2 December under the command of Oberleutnant Wolfgang Sporn.

She served with the 5th U-boat Flotilla from 20 December 1941 for training and the 1st flotilla from 1 November 1942 for operations.

1st patrol
U-432's first patrol was from Kiel in Germany. She headed for the Atlantic Ocean, via the 'gap' separating the Faroe and Shetland Islands. She arrived at Brest in occupied France on 24 December.

2nd and 3rd patrols
For her second sortie, she barely got out of the Bay of Biscay.

Her third foray took her into the middle of the North Atlantic.

4th patrol and loss
Having left Brest on 27 April 1943, she, along with U-659, were both shadowing a southbound convoy on 5 May in preparation for an attack on the surface when the two U-boats collided. Both boats sank.

Forty men went down with U-439; there were nine survivors.