Oberleutnant zur See Heinz Beckman, Iron Cross First Class, was next to transit the area, which he did in the Type IXC U-159. It was just a glancing patrol, from just north of Anegada into the eponymous passage between the 4th and the 6th of July, 1943. U-159 began the patrol on the 12th of June in convoy with U-185, U-415, U-564, and U-634 for mutual protection. They were attacked on the 13th by a Sunderland which damaged U-564 and was itself destroyed (Wynn, Vol. 1, p.123).
Just like his two predecessors Beckman was to be sunk on short order after leaving the region. After a patrol that took U-159 deep into the Caribbean Sea, to the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, the submarine doubled back on its course and headed for the Anegada Passage again. On the 28th of July, however, U-159 was caught on the surface by Allied aircraft – the American Mariner of VP-31 (P-1) commanded by Lt. R. C. Mayo, and sunk south of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic with the loss of all 53 hands (Niestlé).
U-159, which had been commanded by Knights Cross holder Helmut Witte from 1941 to June 1943, sailed in the Tenth Flotilla out of Lorient. Lorient was to find itself bereft of returning U-boats in the weeks ahead based on the three lost in the Caribbean or en route home from there.
Heinz Beckman was 30 years old at the time of his death. He was a member of Crew X from 1939 and received the Iron Cross First Class in December of 1942. He was promoted to Oberleutnant zur See in March of 1943. His total patrols in command consisted of this one, of 47 days.
SOURCES: Gudmundur Helgason, Rainer Kolbicz, www.uboat.net, 2011, Kenneth Wynn, U-boat Operations of the Second World War, Volume 1 and Volume 2, 1997