Alexander Marinesko

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Alexander Marinesko
Leningrad, Soviet Union
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	Soviet Navy
Years of service	1933 – 1945
Rank	Captain 3rd rank
Awards	Hero of the Soviet Union

Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko (

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

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 with the sinkings, 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, 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^[2] 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.^[3]

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,^[4]
• Monuments dedicated to him were erected in Kaliningrad, Kronstadt, 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