Soviet Submarine S-13 - Service History

Service History

In the first half of September 1942, under Malantjenko's command, S-13 sank two Finnish ships, Hera and Jussi H., and a German ship Anna W, totaling 4,042 tons.

On 15 October 1942, caught on the surface while charging her batteries, S-13 was attacked by the Finnish submarine chasers VMV-13 and VMV-15. During her crash dive, the submarine hit bottom, severely damaging her rudder and destroying her steering gear. The following depth charge attack worsened the damage, but S-13 escaped and made it back to Kronstadt.

During the next three years, Malantyenko was relieved by Alexander Marinesko and S-13 was repaired and returned to sea.

Under the command of Marinesko, then 32, on 30 January 1945, at Stolpe Bank off the Pomeranian coast, S-13 sank the 25,484-ton German liner Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with civilians and military personnel, with three torpedoes. Recent estimates calculate that over 9,000 people were killed, the worst loss of life in maritime history.

Soon after that, S-13 fired at the T-36, a torpedo boat that had come to the aid of the Wilhelm Gustloff. Despite being overloaded with 564 survivors from the Gustloff, the captain of T-36 was able to dodge the torpedo.

On 10 February 1945, S-13 sank another German transport ship Steuben. 3,300 civilians and military personnel from the ship died, and 300 survived .

Marinesko hoped to be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. He left the navy in early 1946, embittered. He was posthumously awarded the title in 1990.

S-13 was decommissioned on 7 September 1954 and stricken on 17 December 1956.