Marinesko Alexander Ivanovich - commander of the Red Banner submarine (PL) "S-13" of the Red Banner submarine brigade of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, captain of the 3rd rank.

He graduated from 6 classes of a labor school, after which he became a sailor's apprentice. For diligence and patience, he was sent to the Jung school, after which he went on the ships of the Black Sea Shipping Company as a 1st class sailor. In 1930 he entered the Odessa Naval College and, after graduating in 1933, sailed as the third and second mate of the captain on the steamers Ilyich and Red Fleet.

On October 30, 1933, on a Komsomol ticket (according to other sources, on mobilization), he was drafted to the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Fleet and sent to the navigator classes of Special courses command staff RKKF, after which he was appointed commander of the BCh-1 (navigational warhead) on the submarine "Shch-306" ("Haddock") of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. In March 1936, with the introduction of personal military ranks, A.I. Marinesco received the rank of lieutenant, in November 1938 - senior lieutenant. In 1937 he was suddenly dismissed from the fleet, but reinstated two weeks later. He graduated from the retraining courses at the Red Banner training detachment of diving named after S.M. Kirov in 1938. From November 1938 - assistant commander of the L-1 submarine of the Baltic Fleet. Since May 1939 - the commander of the submarine "M-96", the crew of which, according to the results of combat and political training in 1940, took first place, and the commander was awarded a gold watch and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander.

In the early days of the Great Patriotic War submarine "M-96" under the command of Marinesko was relocated to Paldiski, then to Tallinn, entered combat positions in the Gulf of Riga, had no collisions with the enemy. The commander started drinking, the discipline in the crew fell, the political educational work stalled. In the next combat campaign on August 14, 1942, according to the report of Marinesko, the boat sank the enemy transport "Helene" with a displacement of 7000 tons (in fact, a German floating battery was attacked to no avail). But, returning from the position ahead of time (the fuel and regeneration cartridges were running out), Marinesco did not warn our patrols, and did not raise Naval flag, as a result of which the boat was almost sunk by its own boats. Nevertheless, the actions of the commander in the position were highly appreciated, and A.I. Marinesco was awarded the Order of Lenin.

At the end of 1942, A.I. Marinesco was awarded the rank of captain of the 3rd rank, he was again accepted as a candidate for members of the CPSU(b) (in October 1941 he was expelled) and a few months later became a member of the CPSU (b), but in a generally good combat performance for 1942, the battalion commander, 3rd rank captain Sidorenko, nevertheless noted that his subordinate “on the shore is prone to frequent drinking. " In total, AI Marinesko made 3 military campaigns on the M-96 in 1941-1943, and had no victories.

In April 1943, AI Marinesko was appointed commander of the S-13 submarine. On this boat, he served until September 1945, having completed 3 military campaigns. In the first of them, in October 1944, according to his own report, he sank the armed transport Siegfried (the attack with four torpedoes failed, but Marinesco nevertheless caught up with the enemy and sank him with artillery). In fact, the target of the attack was a small trawler, which was only damaged and was towed by the enemy to the port.

From January 9 to February 15, 1945, AI Marinesco was on his fifth military campaign, during which two large enemy transports - "Wilhelm Gustlov" and "General von Steuben" were sunk.

Before this campaign, the commander of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, Admiral V.F. Tributs, decided to bring Marinesko to trial by a military tribunal for unauthorized abandonment of the ship in a combat situation (he was delayed for two days from dismissal in the Finnish port of Turku due to drunkenness), but the execution of this decision was delayed by giving him the opportunity to redeem his guilt in a military campaign.

On January 30, 1945, "S-13" attacks and sends to the bottom the liner "Wilhelm Gustlov", on which there were about 2,000 Nazis and 9,000 civilian refugees. The German Navy suffered serious damage, since, according to the magazine "Marine" (1975, No. 2-5, 7-11, Germany), 406 submariners were killed with the ship. According to the battalion commander, 1st rank captain Orel, the dead German submariners would have been enough to staff 70 medium-tonnage submarines (which was a very gross exaggeration). Subsequently, the Soviet press called the sinking of "Wilhelm Gustlov" "the attack of the century", and Marinesko "submariner No. 1".

On February 10, 1945, a new victory followed - on the approach to the Danzig (Gdansk) Bay "S-13" sank the transport "General von Steuben" (according to the report of Marinesko - the light cruiser "Emden"), on board which about 3,000 soldiers and officers were trying to evacuate enemy.

The commander of the "S-13" was not only forgiven the previous sins, but also presented him on February 20, 1945 to the rank of Hero Soviet Union... However, the "Golden Star" at the headquarters of the fleet was replaced by the Order of the Red Banner.

The sixth military campaign from April 20 to May 13, 1945 was considered unsatisfactory. Then, according to the commander of the submarine brigade, Captain 1st Rank Kournikov, Marinesko "had many cases of detecting enemy transports and convoys, but as a result of improper maneuvering and indecision, he could not get close to attack ...". However, Marinesco skillfully evaded all the time from the submarines and aircraft that attacked him.

After the Victory, the commander's discipline problems worsened significantly. Twice they imposed party penalties on him, but Marinesco did not keep his promises to improve. As a result, on September 14, 1945, order No. 01979 of the People's Commissar of the Navy, Admiral of the Fleet N.G. Kuznetsov, was issued, which stated: Baltic Fleet Captain 3rd Rank Marinesko Alexander Ivanovich to be removed from his post, demoted to military rank to the senior lieutenant and put at the disposal of the military council of the same fleet "(In 1960, the demotion order was canceled, which made it possible for AI Marinesco, who by that time was already very ill, to receive a full pension).

From October 18 to November 20, 1945, AI Marinesko was the commander of the minesweeper "T-34" of the 2nd minesweeper division of the 1st Red Banner trawling brigade of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet (Tallinn Maritime Defense Area). November 20, 1945 by order People's Commissar USSR Navy Senior Lieutenant A.I. transferred to the reserve.

Of the 6 military campaigns carried out by Marinesco during the Great Patriotic War, 4 were unsuccessful. He carried out 5 torpedo attacks, out of 4 declared victories, in fact, only two were won, but he is the first "heavyweight" among Soviet submariners: on his account there are 2 sunk vehicles weighing 42,557 gross register tons.

After the war in 1946-1949 AI Marinesko worked as a senior captain's mate on the ships of the Baltic State Merchant Shipping Company "Seva" and "Yalta", was written off ashore due to poor health. In 1949-1950 he worked as deputy director of the Leningrad Research Institute of Blood Transfusion, but was sentenced on December 14, 1949 to three years in prison under Article 109 of the RSFSR Criminal Code (abuse of office) and the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 26, 1940 “On the transition to an eight-hour working day, a seven-day working week and the prohibition of unauthorized departure of workers and employees from enterprises and institutions. " Marinesko was accused of stealing peat briquettes, embezzling a bed belonging to the institute worth 543 rubles and three absenteeism without good reason in November 1949.

A.I. Marinesko served his punishment at the fishery in Nakhodka, and from February 8 to October 10, 1951, in the Vanino Forced Labor Camp of Dalstroy.

On October 10, 1951, Marinesco was released early from prison, and on the basis of an amnesty act of March 27, 1953, his criminal record was removed. 25 years later, by a decision of the Presidium of the Leningrad City Court of April 27, 1988, the verdict of the People's Court of the 2nd section of the Smolninsky District of the city of Leningrad on December 14, 1949 and the ruling of the Judicial Collegium of the Leningrad City Court of December 29, 1949 were canceled and the case against A. .I. Marinesco was terminated due to the absence of corpus delicti in his actions.

After his release in 1951-1953 he worked as a topographer of the Onega-Ladoga expedition, since 1953 he headed a group of the supply department at the Leningrad plant "Mezon".

He lived in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). He died after a serious and prolonged illness on November 25, 1963. Buried at the Theological cemetery in St. Petersburg.

For courage and heroism shown in the fight against German fascist invaders in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, by the Decree of the President of the USSR of May 5, 1990 Marinesko Alexander Ivanovich awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).

Captain 3rd rank (11/23/1942, demoted to senior lieutenant 09/14/1945, reinstated in 1960).

He was awarded 2 Orders of Lenin (03/09/1942, 05/05/1990), 2 Orders of the Red Banner (11/21/1944, 03/13/1945), medals "3a Military Merit" (3.11.1944), "3a Defense of Leningrad" (1943), others medals.

Monuments to A.I. Marinesko are installed in Kaliningrad, Kronstadt, Odessa, St. Petersburg; memorial plaques - in Odessa on the building of the nautical school and on the building of the school № 105, in Kronstadt and St. Petersburg on the houses in which he lived. His name is immortalized on a memorial plaque with the names of the Heroes of the Soviet Union of the Baltic Fleet submarine brigade, installed on the Walk of Fame in the city of Kronstadt. The film "Forget about the return" is dedicated to him. The Odessa Naval School and the embankment in Kaliningrad are named after him. The Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation displays the flag of the submarine "C-13".

Miroslav Eduardovich Morozov, Alexander G. Svisyuk, Victor Nikolaevich Ivaschenko

Dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of A. I. Marinesko

In the newspaper "Krasny Chernomorets" in one of the articles it was said that more than 1000 bombs were dropped on the cruiser "Comintern", another article of the same newspaper, published 2 days later, already said "about 2000 bombs", and both of these messages were wrong.

Lies and lies in propaganda, agitation and the press discredit party political work, the naval press and inflict exceptional harm on the cause of the Bolshevik education of the masses.

From the directive of the Deputy People's Commissar of the USSR Navy and the head of the Main Political Directorate of the Navy, Army Commissar of the 2nd Rank I.V. Rogov

2013 was marked by a number of round military-historical dates. Among them, the 100th anniversary of the birth and the 50th anniversary of the death of Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko - a truly legendary figure, for whom the title of "submariner No. 1" of the Russian Navy has long been entrenched, did not go unnoticed among them.

Love and faith, as a rule, do not have clear reasons and explanations - they simply do not need them. Back side this illogical but very common approach is to create an image of the object of worship. Traditionally, such an image contains most of the palette of human virtues, and the shortcomings, if any, seem very insignificant, and their display, as a rule, pursues only the goal of humanizing the created image.

With all the prevalence of such an algorithm for creating portraits of folk heroes, it contains one significant drawback: such an image does not withstand collision with reality. After all, the publication of a small selection or even one real document about a person can radically change society's perception of him. After this, questions often arise: who, when, and most importantly, why "made" this subject into heroes?

From the above, only one lesson can be learned: a hero should only be recognized as a person about whom a lot is known, and not only from oral stories, but also from documents, someone who, in fact, and not according to legends, performed actions worthy of imitation and did not commit worthy of condemnation. Only such an approach can save society, and especially our younger generation, from the negative resonance that inevitably arises after every debunking of an idol. An alternative approach - hiding and distorting the truth, - by whatever good intentions they may be explained, in the century information technologies does not solve, but only delays the solution of the problem, not to mention the fact that in the context of military-patriotic education he is immoral and therefore completely unacceptable.

It is with the aim of restoring the historical truth about the legendary man that this collection was conceived. It contains 144 documents covering combat and life path AI Marinesko, as well as the struggle for the posthumous conferment of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In addition, on the basis of the materials presented, most of which are published for the first time, the authors-compilers tried to recreate a picture of how the Soviet submarine fleet lived and fought on the eve and during the Great Patriotic War using a private example. We do not overestimate the results of our work and understand a certain one-sidedness of this approach - it is not for nothing that the expression “dry language of documents” exists, but we still consider it the best possible.

The authors express the hope that this collection will arouse keen interest and will be useful not only for professional historians, but also for officers and sailors of the Russian Navy, veterans and all those who are interested in the history of the Russian fleet in the 1930s and 1940s. of the past century.

The documents in the collection are arranged in problem-chronological order. Documents on military campaigns are given in the following sequence: combat report of the commander of the submarine (A.I. KBF on them, various documents illustrating military clashes that took place during the campaign, enemy documents on these clashes, political documents about the campaign, submissions for awards based on the results of the campaign.

Archaeographic processing was carried out in accordance with general requirements, presented to the editions of military-historical documents. All documents are preserved in the texts stylistic features, abbreviated names and symbols of positions, institutions, military units, as well as terms inherent in the naval specifics. Grammatical errors in a number of documents have been corrected without additional reservations. The scientific and reference apparatus of the collection includes: a preface, notes on the text in the interlinear translation, annexes and a list of abbreviations.

The authors-compilers of the collection express their sincere gratitude to V.V. Abaturov, I. V. Borisenko, O. A. Balashov, V. I. Zhumatiy, A. Ya. Kuznetsov, R. V. Kuznetsova, K. L Kulagin, S. A. Lipatov, V. D. Ovchinnikov, A. N. Odaynik, O. N. Olkhovatsky, V. V. Pavlovsky, S. V. Patyanin, P. V. Petrov, I. V. Shchetina ...

In this material, we will try as objectively as possible, discarding everything that is now being said and written about A.I. Marinesko, to draw the image of the national hero as it appears to us from the documents. At the same time, in our reconstruction, which in no way claims to be the ultimate truth, we proceeded from the obvious idea that heroes are not born, but become due to the peculiarities of character and upbringing, as well as the emergence of certain circumstances that require heroic deeds. This means that there can be no forbidden topics and deliberately inadmissible hypotheses to study the phenomenon of heroism and obtain the most objective result. For those who believe that the authors should not impose their opinions before reading the material, we recommend that you skip this part and return to it later, after reading the documents.

The childhood and adolescence of A.I. Marinesko does not give grounds to distinguish him from tens or even hundreds of thousands of young people who were born and raised in coastal cities and were the natural environment for replenishing the personnel of the merchant and military fleets. According to Alexander Ivanovich himself, the “revolutionary traditions” of his family, and the very atmosphere of the southern port city itself, forced the future “submariner No. 1” to give preference to service on commercial rather than military ships. Thus, the choice as educational institution Odessa Marine College seems quite natural. Marinesko's call for compulsory military service for all working people coincided with the deployment in the USSR of the massive construction of submarines. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that a 20-year-old young man with a technical school under his belt was put into operation not as an ordinary Red Navy or Red Army soldier, but enrolled in special classes for the command staff of the Red Army Navy. This decision was not made voluntarily, but, as Alexander Ivanovich himself pointed out in his autobiography, "to mobilize the Central Committee of the CPSU (b)."

According to the testimony of the writer A. Crohn, who had close contact with Marinesco, some aspects of the beginning military service heavily burdened the future hero. Their perception did not change later, even despite the fact that Alexander Ivanovich became the commander of a warship and now he himself had to demand discipline from his subordinates both at sea and on the shore. About his attitude to the military order rather frankly, which means, with the awareness of his own righteousness, he spoke to the writer in the early 60s. Was it not these motives and character traits that determined the behavior of Marinesko in the intervals between military campaigns during the war years and, especially, during the period of basing in the ports of Finland in 1944-1945? However, we will not get ahead of ourselves, although this recognition seems to be very important for revealing the logic of subsequent events.

Alexander Marinesko became "Submariner No. 1" thanks to the "Attack of the Century", during which the liner "Wilhelm Gustloff" was sunk. He was very self-willed, drank a lot, was in prison, and performed his main feat against the orders of his superiors.

Baltiets from Odessa

Marinesko was born in Odessa, from childhood he loved and knew the sea, learned to dive and swim perfectly at the age of 7. According to the recollections of Marinesco himself, every morning, together with friends, they went to the sea and spent time there swimming and catching gobies, mackerel, chirus and flounder.
Biographers argue about Marinesco's criminal youth. Odessa in those years really was a gangster town, exactly as Babel described her in his famous stories.
By inheritance from his father, a sailor and Romanian by nationality, Marinesco got a violent temper and craving for adventures. In 1893, Sr. Marinescu beat an officer, went on trial, where he was threatened the death penalty... He escaped from the punishment cell, swam across the Danube, married a Ukrainian woman, and hid for a long time.
It would seem that everything in the character and biography of Marinesko Jr. led to the fact that he became the captain of a Soviet merchant ship on the Black Sea, a smuggler and a merry fellow. But fate and Marinesco decided otherwise: not the southern, but the northern seas, not the merchant, but the military fleet, not the captain of a sea ship, but the commander of an underwater predator.
Of the 13 diesel-electric torpedo submarines of the Baltic Fleet of class "C" (medium), only one survived during the war, under the unlucky number 13. The one commanded by Marinesko from Odessa.

Alcoholism

The author of the Soviet apologetic book dedicated to Marinesko - "The Captain of the Deep Voyage" - Alexander Kron recalls that his first acquaintance with the legendary submariner took place in 1942: Marinesko drank alcohol with his colleagues.
"Drunken" stories happened to Marinesco on a regular basis. In October 1941, the submariner was expelled from the candidates for membership in the CPSU (b) for organizing gambling games and alcohol abuse. Exactly one year later, then still the commander of the M-96 boat, Marinesko successfully landed a Soviet landing party in Narva Bay, hunting for the German Enigma encryption machine.

The operation ended in failure - the car was never found - but the actions of the submariner were highly appreciated, Marinesco was presented for an award and reinstated as a candidate for party membership, but in the combat description, they again mentioned a penchant for alcohol.
In April 1943, Marinesco was appointed commander of the S-13 submarine, the one on which he would perform his main military exploits. And his civil “exploits” never stopped: “During the summer and autumn of 1943, Marinesco twice visited the guardhouse, and received a warning from the party line, and then a reprimand. The reason for the penalties was not the booze itself, Alexander Ivanovich was drinking at that time no more than others, but in one case it was unauthorized absence, in the other - being late. "

Women

The most scandalous incident, after which Marinesco was almost handed over to a military tribunal, happened to him in early 1945. The case took place in Turku, on the territory of neutral Finland. In October 1944, during a combat raid, the Marinesko crew destroyed the German transport "Siegfried": the torpedo attack on the Soviet submarine failed and the sailors entered an artillery duel, in which the S-13 won, but received damage.

Therefore, from November to December 1944, the C-13 was being repaired in Finland. The crew and the captain languished from idleness, the blues attacked. Throughout his life, Marinesco was married three times and at that time his next marriage was falling apart. On New Year's Eve, Marinesko, along with another Soviet officer, went on a spree ... and disappeared.
As it turned out later, Marinesko met the owner of one of the local hotels, a Swede, and stayed with her to spend the night. The commander of the Soviet submarine was wanted. It was wartime, Finland had just come out of the war, in general, the fears were different. But Marinesco was just having fun - love for women turned out to be stronger than a sense of duty.

"Penalty" boat

After the Finnish scandal, Marinesco had one way - to the tribunal. But the team loved the commander, and the superiors appreciated him as an experienced sailor, although at that time there were no outstanding combat successes for Marinesco. The commander of the Baltic Fleet, Vladimir Tributs, decided to postpone the punishment: so the S-13 became the only "penalty" boat, by analogy with the penal battalions, in the Soviet fleet. In the January 1945 campaign, Marinesco, in fact, set out for a feat. Only a very large sea "catch" could save him from punishment.

"Attack of the Century"

For almost a month, the C-13 cruised unsuccessfully in a given area. The submariners failed to find the target. Marinesco decides to violate the order and change course. What drove him? Excitement, flair, the need to excel or the sailor waved his hand, they say, "seven troubles one answer" - we will never know.
On January 30, at 21.15, C-13 discovered in the Baltic waters a German transport "Wilhelm Gustlov" accompanied by an escort, on board of which, according to modern estimates, there were more than 10 thousand people, most of whom were refugees from East Prussia: old people, children, women. But also on "Gustlov" were German submarine cadets, crew members and other servicemen.
Marinesco started hunting. For almost three hours the Soviet submarine followed the giant transport ship (the displacement of the Gustlov was over 25 thousand tons. For comparison, the steamer Titanic and the battleship Bismarck had a displacement of about 50 thousand tons).
Seizing the moment, Marinesko attacked "Gustlov" with three torpedoes, each of which hit the target. The fourth torpedo with the inscription "For Stalin" got stuck. The sailors miraculously managed to avoid the explosion on the boat. Escaping the pursuit of a German military escort, the C-13 was bombarded with over 200 depth charges.
Ten days later, C-13 sank another German giant liner, General Steuben, with a displacement of almost 15 thousand tons.
Thus, the winter campaign of Marinesko became the most outstanding combat raid in the history of the Soviet submarine fleet, but the commander and crew were deprived of their well-deserved awards and glory. Perhaps because Marinesco and his team were the least like the textbook Soviet heroes.

Convictions and seizures of epilepsy

The sixth raid, which Marinesco made in the spring of 1945, was deemed unsuccessful. According to the testimony of people who knew Marinesco, he began to have epileptic seizures, and conflicts with his superiors and drunken stories continued. The submariner allegedly independently appealed to the management with a request to dismiss him from the fleet, but the order of the People's Commissar of the Navy N. G. Kuznetsov says about his dismissal from office "due to negligence in his duties, drunkenness and domestic promiscuity."
In the late forties, Marinesko finally abandoned the sea and became deputy director of the Leningrad Research Institute of Blood Transfusion. A strange choice! Soon Marinesco was accused of embezzlement and sentenced to three years: an obscure act and a rather mild sentence for those years. However, the legendary submariner served part of his term in Kolyma.

Somersaults of memory

The controversy over the identity of Marinesco and the legendary Attack of the Century has not subsided for fifty years. What was it? Immediately after the Second World War, a monument to Marinesco was erected in the Museum of the Royal Navy of Great Britain. In the USSR, the team was deprived of well-deserved awards, the feat was hushed up, and in 1967 an article was published in the newspaper "Sovetsky Baltiets", which said that "Gustlov" was drowned by Efremenkov, the chief executive officer, and Marinesko was "inoperative."
In the mid-80s, Izvestia started a two-year newspaper war with the USSR Ministry of Defense and the leadership of the Navy, according to the publication Marinesko undeservedly forgotten hero, the military had a different point of view. Even the daughters of Marinesco from different marriages had different attitudes towards the personality of their father: one considered him a scoundrel, the other thanked people who were trying to restore the good name of Alexander Ivanovich.
Abroad, the attitude towards the personality of Marinesco is also ambiguous. Laureate Nobel Prize on literature Gunther Grass published the book "Trajectory of the Crab" - an artistic study of "Attacks of the Century" - in which he described the commander of a Soviet submarine in the darkest colors. American journalist John Miller twice came to the Soviet Union for information about Marinesco, to write a book about a drunkard and a rebel, for the desperate courage of the "underwater ace" who gained fame.
Marinesco's late military certifications are full of reprimands and other "service inconsistencies", but in one of the early his naval teachers wrote: "Can neglect personal interests for the sake of service", and even, allegedly, there is a very short description: "Capable of feat."

The name of Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko has not left the pages of not only Russian, but also foreign media for many years.

By the decree of the President of the USSR of May 5, 1990, on conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Alexander Ivanovich posthumously, justice was restored. A film was released in the USA, in which the "attack of the century" and the loss of the Germans are professionally analyzed in detail. Last year, a film on this topic was also released in Germany, in which the creators tried to “warm their hands” on the same topic. But it is clear that Marinesco was "born" it was written that not only during his life he would be humiliated by the system, defending which he did not spare his life, but also after death.

After the war, the name of Alexander Ivanovich was not known to the general public and to the Soviet people... He was known only to a small circle of submariners and participants in the Great Patriotic War.
During the war, in the Northern Fleet, and later in other fleets, there was a tradition - after the return of the boat from a military campaign, to give the crew as many pigs as the enemy ships were sunk. This tradition continued after the war, when submariners gathered in Kronstadt for their traditional meeting. The first piglet was given to a seemingly unremarkable person of small stature, whose chest was not decorated with the Golden Star of the Hero. It was a sign of gratitude and respect for his military exploits during the Great Patriotic War, of which all Soviet submariners were proud. This man was Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko.

When I studied at the Kaliningrad VVMU of diving, our instructors were officers who participated in the war, who had gone through it on ships and submarines. They told in lectures about their youth and participation in military campaigns. Much of what they told us was not reflected in the annals of submarine warfare, since these were times when the country's leadership did not need the truth of the war.

Everyone spoke of Alexander Ivanovich with great respect. The “Attack of the Century”, which historians far from the sea and life are arguing about today, looked somewhat different in the stories of our teachers.

Once we were informed that a meeting of cadets with Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko would take place at the submarine tactics department. Apparently, it took place only thanks to the personal intervention of the Commander of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, Admiral Orel Alexander Evstafievich. During the war, he commanded a submarine formation, which included the S-13 submarine, commanded by Captain 3rd Rank AI Marinesko. Alexander Evstafievich was the first commander who signed in 1945 the presentation for awarding Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko with the Golden Star and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, he also signed the last presentation in 1990, which was satisfied.

Arriving at the department, we saw a modest middle-aged man in a civilian suit, small in stature and not at all heroic in appearance, as we had imagined him before we met. Marinesco was accompanied by the legendary submariner Northern Fleet(navigator of the submarine N. Lunina) Captain 1st rank Mikhail Aleksandrovich Leoshko - senior lecturer of the submarine tactics department of our school.

In an instant, a group of 3- and 4-year cadets surrounded Alexander Ivanovich and all moved along the corridor of the submarine tactics department. The walls of this corridor, about 10-12 meters long, were completely hung with portraits of Heroes of the Soviet Union and photographs of Soviet submarine crews who took part in the war. most of of which she died.

Alexander Ivanovich's attention was attracted by the photograph of the foreman of the 1st article of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Perhaps it was a photograph of Ivan Petrovich Antonov - the legendary sniper of the Leningrad Front. He stopped and, pointing to the photograph of the foreman, asked us if we wanted to know under what circumstances he met him. Naturally, everyone wanted to hear this story.

This is how I remember it. (Please note that 48 years have passed since that meeting, almost half a century).

It was November 1943. The submarine recently returned from a combat mission. One evening the officers dined in a restaurant. After dinner, Alexander Ivanovich went to the boat. Just a few minutes later, he was stopped by a military patrol led by a junior lieutenant and demanded to show documents, after which the patrol chief offered to go to the military commander's office. All attempts by Alexander Ivanovich to persuade junior lieutenant letting him go were unsuccessful. He realized that the rear army men could not understand the soul of a submariner who had returned from a military campaign. At this time, the foreman of the 1st article came out from around the corner. Coming up to the patrol and assessing the situation, the foreman, without saying a word, beats the patrol chief and the nearest soldier. Then he grabs A. I. by the hand and says: "Let's run." It didn't take long to persuade. At the same moment they disappeared around the corner and headed towards the pier where Marinesco's boat was moored. Having gone down into the boat, we went into the cabin - the company. AI called the messenger and asked to "think of" something. Alcohol, water and some snacks appeared on the table. Marinesco suggested that the foreman take off his jacket and have a bite to eat. The foreman took off his jacket, and then A. I. Marinesko saw the Gold Star Medal on his chest. This is how they met.

Recently, getting acquainted with the history of VVMU them. Frunze (formerly the Naval Cadet Corps), I understood why the Russian sailors were distinguished by their courage, courage and never, under any circumstances, lowered the flag of the ship, preferring death to captivity. It is not for nothing that in the two-vaulted set of signals there is such a combination "I die, but I do not surrender."

Ever since the time of Peter I, the elite of the nobility in Russia preferred to serve in the Corps of Pages or the Pavlovsk School. The Naval Cadet Corps took children not just of noble nobles, but those who, in their behavior, were not "worthy" to study at the Pavlovsk school. These were "inveterate" guys.

History has shown once again that heroes during the war often became those who are popularly called "rip off - head". Such, apparently, was this foreman, and Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko himself.

He should have been born during the time of a pirate freelancer, when desperate rip-off heads, who did not recognize any laws and regulations, were held in high esteem at sea. Violent disposition Alexandra Marinesco always prevented his undoubted talent from being fully realized. But there's nothing you can do about it - the legendary man of the Soviet submarine fleet was a contradictory personality.

In 1893, a sailor of the Romanian Royal Navy Iona Marinescu, a hot and temperamental man, beat the officer who offended him. The obstinate sailor was tied up and put in a punishment cell. According to Romanian law, Marinescu faced the death penalty for this offense. The sailor did not want to lose his life, and therefore escaped from the punishment cell, swam across the Danube and ended up in the Russian Empire.

Here he settled in Odessa, where he married a garny Ukrainian maiden, at the same time changing his surname somewhat - from "Marinescu" to "Marinesko".

The father's seaman genes, like his temperament, were fully manifested in his son. After graduating from six classes of a labor school, at the age of 13, Sasha Marinesko becomes a student of a sailor of the Black Sea Shipping Company. The teenager's talents and abilities were appreciated by sending him to the Jung school. Alexander finished it brilliantly, and in 1930 he was admitted to the Odessa Naval College.

In May 1933, a graduate of the technical school Marinesko became the captain's mate on the merchant ship "Red Fleet". Those who served under the command of Marinesco claim that he himself dreamed of a career as a purely peaceful sea captain, but life decided otherwise.

A naval talent with no sign of discipline

In the fall of 1933, 20-year-old Alexander Marinesko, on a Komsomol ticket, was sent to serve in the navy. A capable graduate of the naval technical school was sent to the higher courses of the command staff of the RKKF, after passing which he became the navigator of the submarine Shch-306 of the Baltic Fleet.

Marinesco was a capable man, but at the same time harsh, always saying what he thought, no matter what threatened him. From time immemorial, pravdorubs are not very favored, and in the case of Marinesco, the matter was complicated by the fact that he himself was not alien to the joys of life. The young sailor, like his father, was liked by women and loved to drink. These two addictions would later go sideways for Marinesco.

In his very first certification from 1935 it was said: “Not disciplined enough. He knows his specialty well. He can lead the personnel under constant supervision. Conclusions: pay attention to improving discipline. "

In 1936, ranks were introduced in the navy and Marinesco became a lieutenant. In the summer of 1938, he was promoted to senior lieutenant, and he himself was appointed commander of the M-96 submarine "Baby".

Captain Marinesco's relationship with discipline remained difficult, but he was forgiven a lot, since under his command in 1940, the M-96 became the best in the Baltic Fleet. The submarine Marinesco held a diving speed record of 19.5 seconds with a standard of 35 seconds.

Captain Marinesco's relationship with the discipline was difficult, but he was forgiven a lot. Photo: www.russianlook.com

Marinesco could be in the Caspian

Incredibly, it could have turned out that Marinesco, who at the beginning of the war had the rank of lieutenant commander, would not have taken part in the hostilities at all. "M-96" command decided, together with the crew to transfer to the Caspian Sea along railroad, and the implementation of this plan was prevented only by the rapid encirclement of Leningrad by fascist troops.

The boat was put into operation, and from July 1941 she began to make military campaigns. Captain Marinesco combined successful actions, for which he was awarded the Order of Lenin, with further violations of discipline, because of which he was even expelled from candidates for party membership.

Submarine "S-13". Stamp of Russia, 1996. Photo: Public Domain

Nevertheless, the commanding talent of Marinesco outweighed, and after undergoing retraining he was appointed to the post of commander of the medium submarine "S-13", on which he will serve until the end of the war.

In September 1944, Captain 3rd Rank Alexander Marinesko was nevertheless accepted as a member of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, and in October, during a military campaign, he attacked the German transport "Siegfried". Unable to sink the ship with torpedoes, the S-13 crew fires it on the surface from cannons. Marinesko reported that the transport began to quickly sink into the water, but German sources indicate that the Siegfried was towed to the port and rebuilt there. Be that as it may, for this campaign, Captain Marinesco was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Two transports to redeem the Swedish embrace

It would seem that the career of the captain went smoothly. But it was not there. The Marinesko boat was based in Hanko, Finland. The captain himself with a friend went to meet the New, 1945 in the city of Turku. As was often the case with Marinesco, the fun got out of hand. He spent the night with a charming Swedish woman who hosted a local hotel. And all would be fine if in the morning to the windy lady did not come ... her fiancé. The offended man did not get into the fight, but complained to the authorities.

When all the details of Marinesko's party became known to the command, SMERSH took over. The Swede was considered a German agent, and Marinesco himself was suspected of divulging military secrets. The case smelled like a tribunal, but the leadership stood up for the captain - he was given a chance to atone for his guilt in a military campaign.

It was this campaign of the captain - "penalty box" that became historic. On January 30, 1945, the S-13, on its way to Danzig Bay, overtook the German transport Wilhelm Gustloff (length 208 m, width 23.5 m, displacement 25 484 tons). The ship was destroyed by three torpedoes.

"Wilhelm Gustloff" turned out to be the ship of the largest displacement that the Soviet Navy managed to destroy during the Great Patriotic War, so it is not surprising that this success was called "the attack of the century."

"Wilhelm Gustloff" turned out to be the ship of the largest displacement that the Soviet Navy managed to destroy during the Great Patriotic War. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Later, disputes arose about who was on board. West German historians, and after them many domestic "rippers" agreed that Marinesco was a war criminal, for there were "thousands of refugees and many children" on the ship.

Nevertheless, assertions about "thousands of refugees" still raise serious doubts among many researchers. The same German historians admit that the "Gustloff" had all the attributes of a warship, which means that it was a legitimate military target.

It is known that this vessel was a training base for German submariners, and at the time of the attack there were several dozen (!) Crews for the newest German submarines. In addition to the fighters of other military units, the ship also carried the highest ranks of the SS and Gestapo, the Gauleiters of the Polish lands, the heads of a number of concentration camps - in a word, it was a real fascist "Noah's Ark", which destroyed the crew of Captain Marinesko.

Another legend is connected with this success: supposedly in Germany, mourning was declared, and Hitler declared Marinesco a "personal enemy". In fact, this was not the case - the millennial Reich was crumbling before our eyes, and its bosses were not up to "Wilhelm Gustloff".

On February 10, 1945, in the area of ​​the same Danzig Bay, the S-13 attacked and drowned the General von Steuben transport with a displacement of 14,660 tons. And again there are discrepancies - some historians say that it was a question of a ship, albeit a legitimate target, but carrying the wounded, others insist that the Soviet submariners destroyed the ship carrying 3,500 German tankers.

After the sinking of the Steuben, Alexander Marinesko became the record holder among Soviet submariners in terms of the total tonnage of sunk enemy ships. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Be that as it may, after the sinking of the Steuben, Alexander Marinesko became the record holder among Soviet submariners in terms of the total tonnage of sunk enemy ships.

From navy to prison

The return of the S-13 to the base was triumphant. Marinesco forgave all sins and was even nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. True, so high awards"Penalty" was not given, confining himself to the Order of the Red Banner. The boat did not become, as was customary with such a success, the Guards, but only the Red Banner. The temperamental captain was offended: after all, when the submarine commander was awarded the Gold Star, the orders were awarded to the entire crew, and then it turned out that his subordinates were deprived of their well-deserved awards.

The fame of Marinesco spread throughout the entire fleet, but his character has not changed. He met the end of the war with such a spree that patience ran out even for those bosses who always defended him. Captain Marinesco was offered to be removed from office and sent for treatment for alcoholism. The resolution of the issue dragged on until the fall, however, on September 14, 1945, by order of the People's Commissar of the Navy "for negligence in his official duties, systematic drunkenness and domestic promiscuity" Captain 3rd Rank Alexander Marinesko was removed from the post of commander of the "C-13" and demoted to the rank of senior lieutenant ... In November 1945, he was fired from the Navy to the reserve.

The post-war civil life of Alexander Ivanovich was difficult. In 1948, he worked as deputy director of the blood transfusion institute and caught his boss in theft. However, the director, who is much more dexterous in chicanery than the straightforward Marinesco, unfolded the case in such a way that the submariner himself got to places not so distant. Having drunk dashing in the "zone" in fights with former policemen and criminals, in October 1951 he was released ahead of schedule.

Marinesko lived in Leningrad, worked at various enterprises, but he could not find his place in life after the navy. For some time he worked in the carpentry workshop of the Higher Naval School of Weapons Engineers, and the cadets whispered in the corners that this shabby-looking man was "the same Marinesco."

Posthumous hero

Only in 1960, his former colleagues, war heroes, managed to achieve that the order to deprive Alexander Marinesco of the rank of captain of the 3rd rank was canceled. This allowed him to receive a personal military pension, which improved his financial situation.

Bronze bust by sculptor V. Prikhodko on the grave of Alexander Marinesko at the Theological cemetery in St. Petersburg. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexey Varfolomeev

He was never able to beat his drinking cravings, so in last years his life he spent a lot of time in the beer halls of Leningrad, where he was known as "Sashka-Submariner".

They really remembered him too late, when he ended up in the hospital with a terrible diagnosis of cancer. Friends turned to commander of the Leningrad naval base Admiral Baikov... He was asked to give instructions to treat Marinesco in a military hospital. We must pay tribute to the admiral: he not only gave the appropriate instruction, but also allocated his own car to transport the legend of the fleet.

But nothing could be changed in the fate of Captain Marinesco. He died on November 25, 1963, at the age of 50.

After numerous petitions of the Navy veterans, by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 5, 1990, Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Legendary admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov, one of the founders of the Soviet navy, the person who personally made the decision to demote Marinesco, and himself twice demoted by the top state leadership, wrote in the Neva magazine in 1968: “In the complex and restless nature of the S-13 commander, high heroism, desperate bravery coexisted with many shortcomings and weaknesses. Today he could accomplish a heroic feat, and tomorrow he could be late for his ship, preparing to go on a combat mission, or in some other way grossly violate military discipline. As an admiral, I have a very definite negative attitude towards the numerous serious misdeeds of Marinesco in the service and in everyday life. But knowing his courage, determination and ability to achieve major military successes, I am ready to forgive him a lot and pay tribute for his services to the Motherland. "

In 1997, the name of Alexander Marinesko was given to the newly created Museum of the History of Russian Submarine Forces.