Alexander Marinesko
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Alexander Marinesko | |
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| Born | 15 January [O.S. 2 January] 1913 Odessa, Russian Empire |
| Died | 25 November 1963 (aged 50) Leningrad, Soviet Union |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union |
| Service |  Soviet Navy |
| Years of service | 1933 – 1945 |
| Rank | Captain 3rd rank |
| Awards | Hero of the Soviet Union |
Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko (Template:Lang-ru, Template:Lang-uk, Template:Lang-ro; 15 January [O.S. 2 January] 1913 – 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 January 1945. Passengers included civilians and women and children being evacuated from East Prussia, in addition to military and related personnel. More than 9300 of the more than 10,000 passengers and crew died in the icy Baltic Sea.
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 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 its former ally, 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 Porkkala Naval Base 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. There were an estimated 9,400 casualties.
Days later, 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 total number of casualties is estimated at 4,267.[1] 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 in this event, he was deemed "not suitable to be a hero". He was instead awarded the Order of the Red Banner. He was downgraded in rank to lieutenant and dishonorably discharged from the navy in October 1945.
In 1960 he was reinstated as captain third class and granted a full pension. In 1963 Marinesko was given the traditional ceremony due a captain upon his successful return from a mission, which he died not receive in 1945. He died from cancer three weeks later on 25 November 1963;ef>Grabenko, Lyudmila (15 January 2013). "После изгнания с флота легендарный подводник МАРИНЕСКО работал грузчиком и столяром, последние годы жил в нищете и умер от рака в 50 лет". Бульвар Гордона. Archived from the original on 2016-10-30. Retrieved 2020-01-22.</ref> 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.[2]
Legacy
In 1990 Ulitsa Stroitelei (Builders' Street) in St. Petersburg was renamed in his honor to Ulitsa Marinesko, located in Kirovskiy District, connecting Avtovskaya and Zaitseva streets. The Museum of Russian Submarine Forces in St. Petersburg was named after him,[3] and monuments dedicated to him were erected in Kaliningrad, Kronstadt, and Odessa. He is one of the more prominent characters in the Günter Grass' novel Crabwalk (2002), which describes in detail the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff.
Honours and awards
- Hero of the Soviet Union
- 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"
References
- ^ Koburger, Charles W., Steel Ships, Iron Crosses, and Refugees, Praeger Publishers, NY, 1989, p.7. Koburger also notes that other equally reliable sources put the total embarked at 3,300.
- ^ "Маринеско Александр Иванович". www.warheroes.ru. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
- ^ St. Petersburg Submarine Museum, А.I. Marineskо Museum of Submarine Forces website.
- 1913 births
- 1963 deaths
- Heroes of the Soviet Union
- Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
- Military personnel from Odesa
- Soviet military personnel of World War II
- Soviet submarine commanders
- Ukrainian people of Romanian descent
- Ukrainian people of World War II
- Soviet people of Romanian descent
- Deaths from cancer in the Soviet Union
- Burials at Bogoslovskoe Cemetery
- Deaths from cancer in Russia