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Birth of Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko, Soviet Submariner, 3rd Rank Captain, Hero of the Soviet Union
Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko was born on January 2 (15), 1913 in Odessa in the family of a Romanian citizen Ion Marinescu (Ivan Alekseevich Marinesko) and a native of Kherson Governorate Tatiana Mikhailovna Koval. After graduating from the Odessa Labour School № 36 in 1926, he entered the Jung School, where he qualified as a 1st class sailor (1930). Then, until 1933, he studied at the Odessa Maritime Technical School as a long-distance navigator. After graduation, he was drafted into the army and sent for retraining in the Navy’s Highest Special Officer Classes of the Order of Lenin. At the end of the course in November 1934, he was appointed commander of the navigation sector (BCh-1) of the submarine Shch-306 (Haddock) of the Baltic Fleet. In 1938, he completed a one-year training in the Submarine Training Unit, which prepared assistant commanders of submarines, received the rank of senior lieutenant, and was appointed assistant commander on the submarine L-1. In 1939, he was appointed commander of the submarine M-96, which by the end of 1940 became one of the best in fire training in the Baltic Fleet.
On June 22, 1941, under the command of Alexander Marinesko, the M-96 made the transition from Hanko to Paldiski, then was relocated to Trigi Bay (Saaremaa Island), and placed at the disposal of the Coastal Defense Headquarters of the Baltic Region. In July 1941, the M-96 performed a brief combat outing to a position in the Gulf of Riga.
On August 14, 1942, during a combat campaign in the Gulf of Finland, the M-96 attacked a German convoy, and sank enemy ships. Alexander Marinesko was awarded the Order of Lenin and accepted as a candidate for membership in the CPSU (b). From November 8 to 12, 1942, the submarine made the third combat trip to Narva Bay to land a reconnaissance group. For the performance of the combat mission, Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko was presented for the award of the Order of the Red Banner, but in the end was not awarded. However, he received the title of 3rd rank captain. In April 1943, he was appointed commander of the submarine S-13. In August 1944, he was accepted as a member of the CPSU (b). From October 1 to November 11, 1944, he was in the fourth combat campaign, following which he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
On December 29, 1944, while basing the S-13 in Hanko, Alexander Marinesko received a reprimand from the party commission of the brigade with a record in the registration card. At the beginning of January 1945, for his unauthorized absence in Hanko, he was threatened with a court martial, but the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Vladimir Filippovich Tributs, decided to hold a meeting after the submarine returned from the upcoming combat campaign and take into account its results.
During the fifth combat campaign (January 11 – February 13, 1945), in which the C-13 went as the “penalty submarine”, two large enemy ships (former liners) were sunk: Wilhelm Gustloff (January 30) and General von Steuben (February 10), on board of which, in addition to the German military, were refugees (according to various sources, 3-8 thousand people). The Wilhelm Gustloff became the largest ship sunk by the Soviet Navy in general and by Soviet submarines in particular. Both vessels were legitimate military targets (such conclusion was reached, among others, by the Institute of Maritime Law in Kiel (Germany). On his return from the campaign, Alexander Marinesko was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. The last, sixth, campaign of the S-13 under the command of Marinesko took place on April 20 – May 23, 1945, and was assessed as unsatisfactory, since the combat mission was not completed.
In September 1945, for violating military discipline, Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko was demoted to the rank of senior lieutenant and appointed commander of a minesweeper. In November 1945, he was dismissed to the reserve. In 1946-1948, he sailed on bulk carriers of the Baltic State Merchant Shipping Company. After 1949, he worked as deputy director of the Leningrad Research Institute of Blood Transfusion, topographer of the Onega-Ladoga expedition, led a group of the supply department at the Leningrad plant “Mezon”. In 1960, after the petitions of admirals and generals, participants of the Great Patriotic War, Alexander Marinesko was restored to 3rd rank captain. He died on November 25, 1963, in Leningrad, and was buried at the Bogoslovskoe Cemetery.
On May 5, 1990, after numerous appeals from public organizations and veterans supported by the Ministry of Defence of the USSR, Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union by Decree of the President of the USSR Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. Despite the fact that Marinesko is not among the most effective commanders of Soviet submarines, he is the leader in the total tonnage of enemy ships sunk.
Lit.: Воробьёв В. П. Атака века: об А. Маринеско // Молодая гвардия. 1992. № 11/12; Доценко В. Д., Макаров С. И., Щербаков В. Н. Александр Иванович Маринеско. Правда и вымысел. М., 2014; Крон А. А. Капитан дальнего плавания. М., 1984; Морозов М. Э., Свисюк А. Г., Иващенко В. Н. Подводник № 1 Александр Маринеско. Документальный портрет. М., 2015; Ташлыков С. Л. Маринеско А. И. // Большая российская энциклопедия.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Мемориал А. И. Маринеско и подводной лодке С-13: [фотография]. [Между 1986 и 1996];
Общий вид памятника на могиле Александра Маринеско: [фотография]. [Санкт-Петербург, 1990-е г.];
Battles of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet // Memory of the Great Victory: [digital collection];