Marinesko Tomb 03

Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko (, , ; – 25 November 1963) was a Soviet career naval officer. During the last year of World War II, he became known as the captain of the submarine ''S-13'', which sank the German military transport ship ''Wilhelm Gustloff'' in the Baltic Sea in January 1945. Passengers included civilians and women and children being evacuated from East Prussia, in addition to military and related personnel. More than 9,300 of the more than 10,000 passengers and crew died.

Marinesko was the most successful Soviet submarine commander in terms of gross register tonnage (GRT) sunk, with 42,000 GRT to his name, but at the time the government considered him personally unsuitable for the highest award. In 1990 he was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union by President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Early life

Born in Odessa, Marinesko was the son of Ion Marinescu, a Romanian sailor, and Tatiana Mihailovna Koval, a Ukrainian from Kherson Governorate. His father had fled to the Russian Empire after beating an officer, and he settled in Odessa. There he modified his name according to Russian/Ukrainian language conventions, adopting Ivan as his first name and changing the last letter "u" of his surname to "o".

As a young man, Marinesko trained in the Soviet Merchant Navy and the Soviet Navy's Black Sea Fleet. Later he was assigned to a command position in the Baltic Fleet. He was promoted to lieutenant (ensign) in March 1936 and advanced to senior lieutenant (sub-lieutenant) in November 1938. In the summer of 1939 he was appointed commander of the new submarine M-96. When it entered service in mid-1940, it was declared to be the best submarine of the Baltic Fleet. Marinesko was awarded a golden watch and in 1940 promoted to captain-lieutenant (капитан-лейтенант, equivalent to Lieutenant Commander (LCDR/O-4) in the United States Navy).

World War II

Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, in June 1941. The Soviet high command of the Baltic Fleet decided that the M-96 should be sent to the Caspian Sea to serve as a training boat. But this could not be realized because of the German blockade of Leningrad. On 12 February 1942, a German artillery shell hit M-96, causing considerable damage.

In the beginning of 1943, Marinesko was appointed commander of the modernized submarine S-13. Of the 13 units of the Type S (Stalinets), Series IX and IXbis, only this boat survived the war.

''Wilhelm Gustloff'' and ''Steuben''

Marinesko left the Soviet Porkkala Naval Base in Finland on 11 January 1945 and took position near Kolberg on January 13. During the next few days his submarine was attacked several times by German torpedo boats. On 30 January 1945, S-13 attacked and sank the ''Wilhelm Gustloff'', which was evacuating civilians, mostly families with children, and military personnel from East Prussia. 9,343 people lost their lives.

Days later, just before midnight on 10 February, Marinesko sank a second German ship with two torpedoes, the ''Steuben'', carrying mostly wounded military personnel and more than 800 civilians who were evacuating East Prussia and Memel (now Klaipėda). The former Norddeutscher-Lloyd liner had left Pillau that afternoon and was due to arrive in Swinemünde early on the 10th. Of the estimated 4,267 people on board, 3,608 were killed, only 659 survived. Marinesko was ranked as the most successful Soviet submarine commander in terms of gross register tonnage (GRT) sunk, with 42,000 GRT to his name.

Before sinking the ''Wilhelm Gustloff'', Alexander Marinesko had been facing a court martial due to his problems with alcohol. Despite his success with the sinkings, he was deemed "not suitable to be a hero". He was only awarded the Order of the Red Banner. He was demoted to lieutenant and dishonorably discharged from the navy in October 1945, following war's end.

In 1960 Marinesko was reinstated as captain third class and granted a full pension. In 1963 he was given the traditional ceremony due a captain upon his successful return from a mission, which he had not received in 1945. He died from cancer three weeks later on 25 November 1963 he was buried at the Bogoslovskoe Cemetery in St. Petersburg. In 1990 Marinesko was posthumously awarded Hero of the Soviet Union by President Mikhail Gorbachev, after rehabilitation of the late submarine commander by the newspaper ''Izvestia''.

Legacy

*In 1990, the year of the posthumous award, Ulitsa Stroitelei (Builders' Street) in St. Petersburg was renamed in his honor to Ulitsa Marinesko. It is that portion located in Kirovskiy District, connecting Avtovskaya and Zaitseva streets.
*The Museum of Russian Submarine Forces in St. Petersburg was named after him,St. Petersburg Submarine Museum
А.I. Marineskо Museum of Submarine Forces, website.
*Monuments dedicated to him were erected in Kaliningrad, Kronstadt, Moldova, and Odessa.
*Marinesko is an historic figure and prominent character in Günter Grass's novel '' Crabwalk'' (2002), which describes in detail the sinking of the ''Wilhelm Gustloff''.

Honours and awards

*Hero of the Soviet Union, 1990
* Two Orders of Lenin
* Two Orders of the Red Banner
* Medal "For Military Merit"
*Medal "For the Defence of Leningrad"
*Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
* Medal "In Commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of Leningrad", 1957

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marinesko, Alexander
1913 births
1963 deaths
Ukrainian people of Romanian descent
Soviet people of Romanian descent
Military personnel from Odesa
Soviet military personnel of World War II from Ukraine
Soviet submarine commanders
Heroes of the Soviet Union
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
Deaths from cancer in Russia
Deaths from cancer in the Soviet Union
Burials at Bogoslovskoe Cemetery