military personnel, and over 800 civilians, evacuating East Prussia and Memel (now Klaipėda) with an estimated total number of 4,267 casualties. Marinesko thus became 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 was facing a court martial due to his problems with alcohol and was thus 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 to a captain upon his successful return from a mission. He died three weeks later on 25 November 1963 from cancer, and was buried at the Bogoslovskoe Cemetery in St. Petersburg. Marinesko was posthumously awarded Hero of the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 after rehabilitation by the newspaper Izvestia. 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, 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 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