Alexander Marinesko

Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko (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 the Baltic Sea in January 1945. It was evacuating soldiers, medics, and other military personnel of Army Group North, as well as civilians who wanted to flee to Germany. Around 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.