Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko (, , ; – 25 November 1963) was a Soviet naval officer and, during World War II, the captain of the submarine S-13 which sank the German military transport ship Wilhelm Gustloff. The most successful Soviet submarine commander in terms of gross register tonnage (GRT) sunk, with 42,000 GRT to his name, he was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union in 1990. Early life Born in Odessa, Marinesko was the son of a Romanian sailor, Ion Marinescu, and a Ukrainian woman, Tatiana Mihailovna Koval from Kherson Governorate. His father had fled to the Russian Empire after beating an officer and settled in Odessa, Ukrainizing his name to Ivan and changing the last letter "u" of his surname to "o". Marinesko trained in the Soviet Merchant Navy and the Black Sea Fleet, and was later moved 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 promoted to captain-lieutenant (капитан-лейтенант, equivalent to Lieutenant Commander (LCDR/O-4) in the USN) in 1940. World War II Nazi Germany attacked USSR 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 there 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 probably 9,400 casualties. Days later, on 10 February, Marinesko sank a second German ship with two torpedoes, the Steuben, carrying mostly wounded