On January 30, 1945, approximately 80 years ago, the Soviet submarine S-13, commanded by Captain 3rd Rank Alexander Marinesko, struck a decisive blow to Nazi Germany by sinking the Wilhelm Gustloff, a former cruise liner repurposed as a floating barracks for the Kriegsmarine.
The attack, which sent many of Germany’s naval officers and trainees to the bottom of the Baltic Sea, remains one of the most significant maritime events of World War II.
On Jan 30, Russian citizens and naval veterans paid tribute to Marinesko at the Theological Cemetery in St. Petersburg, recognizing his crucial role in the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.
Despite a turbulent military and post-war career, Marinesko earned a place in history as the most successful Soviet submarine commander in terms of enemy tonnage destroyed.
“Today, the memory of submariner number 1, Hero of the Soviet Union, commander of the S-13, Alexander Marinesko, was honored at the Theological Cemetery of St. Petersburg. A man of complex military and, especially, post-war fate, he wrote many glorious pages in the annals of the Victory over Nazism, becoming the most productive submariner in terms of the tonnage of enemy ships sunk by him and his team,” writes a Pro-Russian telegram channel.
Images shared on telegram captured people placing flowers and standing in solemn remembrance at his gravesite. The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, often referred to as the “attack of the century,” took place in Danzig Bay.
The S-13 fired three torpedoes, hitting the massive vessel carrying members of the German fleet, including current and future officers of the Kriegsmarine (the navy of Nazi Germany). This event marked a major setback for Nazi Germany’s naval ambitions in the war.
However, recognition of Marinesko’s wartime achievements came only decades later. In May 1990, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, largely due to the persistent efforts of fellow sailors who sought to honor his legacy.
Even today, Marinesko is widely celebrated in Russia for his contributions to the war effort, with his actions aboard the S-13 cementing his status as a key figure in Soviet naval history.
In his honor, the Russian media outlet TASS remembered the event and described the S-13, led by Captain 3rd Rank Alexander Marinesko, as “the most successful Soviet submarine of the Great Patriotic War.”
German Ship Wilhelm Gustloff
The Wilhelm Gustloff was originally conceived as a symbol of Nazi Germany’s vision of prosperity and leisure. Built for the Kraft durch Freude (KdF – Strength through Joy) program, the ship was intended to provide subsidized cruises to German workers as part of an effort to secure their loyalty to the regime.
The vessel was launched in May 1937 from the Blohm and Voss shipyard in Hamburg. The ship had a displacement of over 25,000 tons and was one of the first major cruise liners built for the KdF initiative.
Initially, the ship was to be named after Adolf Hitler, but following the 1936 assassination of Wilhelm Gustloff—a Nazi functionary based in Switzerland—by a young Jewish student, the Nazi leadership decided to rename the vessel in his honor.
The KdF, a subsidiary of the German Labour Front (DAF), was established as a means to control and pacify the German workforce after the abolition of trade unions. It organized leisure activities and tourism for workers, with the Wilhelm Gustloff serving as one of its premier cruise ships.
Among the most ambitious projects associated with the DAF and KdF was the Volkswagen (or “people’s car”), designed to make automobile ownership accessible to the average German.
However, with the onset of World War II in 1939, the production of civilian vehicles was halted as manufacturing shifted toward military needs.
As war engulfed Europe, the Wilhelm Gustloff’s role dramatically changed. By September 1939, it had been repurposed as a floating hospital and barracks and spent the next four years docked and largely inactive.
The once-pristine white ship was repainted in camouflage gray and repurposed for use by the Nazi navy’s submarine training school. By early 1945, the tide of war had turned against Germany.
The advancing Soviet army, fueled by accounts of atrocities committed by the Nazis in the East, drove fear and panic into the German population. The Nazi Party exploited these fears to bolster resistance efforts, but by January, the situation had become desperate.
On January 23, 1945, the German Navy launched Operation Hannibal, a large-scale naval evacuation to rescue civilians and military personnel from the Soviet advance. Every available ship, no matter its condition, was called into service, including the Wilhelm Gustloff.
Despite being out of operations for years, the ship was tasked with transporting prized submarine crews, Nazi officials, and as many soldiers and civilians as possible to safety.
The operation was marred by internal conflicts from the outset. The Wilhelm Gustloff operated under a divided command, with Captain Friedrich Petersen, a veteran merchant navy officer, as its designated master.
Meanwhile, Commander Wilhelm Zahn, a young submarine officer, was responsible for preparing and overseeing the loading process. The two men frequently clashed, which complicated an already chaotic evacuation effort.
Last Voyage of the Wilhelm Gustloff
While many ships embarked from various ports in East Prussia, the Wilhelm Gustloff remained docked at Gotenhafen (now Gdynia, Poland), awaiting its fateful departure.
On January 30, 1945, the Wilhelm Gustloff finally set sail, heavily burdened with a desperate mix of passengers. Among them were wounded German soldiers, Nazi officials, remnants of scattered army units, and thousands of civilian refugees, many of whom had arrived at the port in a state of panic.
Fearful of being left behind to face the advancing Soviet forces, countless civilians boarded the ship unofficially, forcing their way on in hopes of finding a route to safety.
Originally designed to accommodate just under 1,900 passengers, the Wilhelm Gustloff was stretched far beyond its intended capacity during the evacuation.
While the exact number of people on board remains uncertain, estimates suggest that over 9,000 individuals were crammed onto the vessel, with nearly half of them being children.
The extreme overcrowding created dire conditions and turned the ship into a floating refuge for those desperate to escape the war’s final brutal stages. However, for the thousands aboard, what was meant to be a journey toward safety would soon turn into one of the greatest maritime tragedies in history.
The Wilhelm Gustloff was not sailing alone. It was travelling alongside another refugee vessel, the liner Hansa, accompanied by a meager escort of two aging torpedo boats.
With no aerial support and only limited naval protection, the convoy was left vulnerable to enemy attack. The urgency of the evacuation meant that proper safety measures were overlooked, and there was simply no time to gather enough lifeboats and life rafts for the thousands of passengers crammed aboard.
The ship left port with only 12 of its originally equipped 22 lifeboats, drastically reducing the chances of survival should disaster strike.
The situation took a turn for the worse when the sister ship Hansa was disabled due to mechanical failure, and the two accompanying torpedo boats lagged behind, struggling to keep up with the Wilhelm Gustloff’s speed.
Encounter with Soviet Submarine S-13
On the night of January 30, 1945, the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff met its fate approximately 12 miles off the Pomeranian coast when it was spotted by the Soviet submarine S-13, commanded by Captain Alexander Marinesko.
The experienced submariner, who had been at sea for 20 days without firing a shot, finally found a target he deemed worthy of his limited torpedo supply.
Marinesko, born in Odessa in 1913, was not a staunch communist but was recognized as a skilled naval officer. Having started his maritime career as a cabin boy, he quickly climbed the ranks of the Soviet Navy and eventually transferred to the submarine fleet in 1936.
Despite the political purges of the time, he secured command of the S-13 in 1944, a much larger and more advanced vessel compared to his previous assignments.
The S-13 had set sail from Hangö, Finland, on January 11, 1945, for its first mission in months. Nearly three weeks later, Marinesko finally encountered Wilhelm Gustloff, a massive ship illuminated against the shore, making it an easy target.
The German vessel had inadvertently exposed itself when Captain Friedrich Petersen decided to steer into deeper waters rather than staying close to shore as advised by his military commander, Lieutenant Commander Wilhelm Zahn. Petersen also activated the ship’s red and green navigation lights to avoid collisions with allied ships.
Although Wilhelm Gustloff was armed with anti-aircraft guns, it was not marked as a hospital ship, making it a legitimate military target. Additionally, both the ship’s escorting torpedo boat and its anti-aircraft weapons were rendered useless due to frozen equipment, which left the vessel defenseless.
After tracking the ship for two hours, S-13 fired three torpedoes at its port side. Each torpedo carried an inscription: “For the Motherland,” “For the Soviet People,” and “For Leningrad.”
The strikes disabled the engine room, cut off electrical power, and caused massive flooding. Within 40 minutes, the Wilhelm Gustloff capsized and sank in 144 feet of water. Of the estimated over 9,000 people aboard, only 1,252 were rescued. Many perished due to drowning, freezing temperatures, or the chaos on deck.
Just 11 days later, S-13 claimed another German vessel, General von Steuben, killing approximately 3,000 people. The Wilhelm Gustloff remains the deadliest maritime disaster in history.
Impact Of S-13 Submarines
The S-13 was a large submarine from the second pre-war generation, constructed at the Gorky Plant No. 112 (Krasnoye Sormovo Plant).
Its design was originally based on a project by the German company Deshimag, which is why the submarines of this class were initially designated with the letter “H” (for “German”).
However, on October 20, 1937, they were renamed as part of the “Stalinets” class, adopting the letter “S” instead.
Apart from its role in sinking the Wilhelm Gustloff, the S-13 earned a reputation for its active and effective combat performance.
The S-13 entered combat in the Baltic in 1942. Under the command of Lieutenant Commander Pyotr Malanchenko, the submarine successfully targeted enemy vessels, sinking Finnish transport ships Hera (Nera) and Jussi H. (Jussi N.), as well as the Dutch sailing-motor schooner Anna V. (Anna W.), which was under enemy control. The combined tonnage of these vessels was 3,994 gross tons.
In early 1945, the S-13 encountered German submarines on multiple occasions. On January 29, just before the attack on the Wilhelm Gustloff, it came across two submarines from the 33rd Flotilla.
It was fired upon by U-539 but managed to evade the attack and escape. A week later, on February 6, the S-13 was targeted by U-1303 from the 4th Training Flotilla but was not hit. The next day, it was spotted by U-2345, a new German submarine from the 32nd Training Flotilla.
However, instead of engaging in combat, the German vessel quickly submerged. Interestingly, the S-13 never crossed paths with U-103, which was meant to escort the Wilhelm Gustloff.
Despite its “unlucky” number (often considered unlucky in many cultures, including Russia), the S-13 became “the most productive Soviet submarine of the Great Patriotic War.”
Over its service, it was responsible for sinking or damaging enemy ships with a total tonnage of 44,701 gross tons. Remarkably, it was also the only “S” class submarine to survive the intense battles in the Baltic between 1939 and 1945.
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