S-13 was a Stalinets-class submarine

Soviet S class submarine

The S-class or Srednyaya submarines were part of the Soviet Navy's underwater fleet during World War II. Unofficially nicknamed Stalinets , boats of this class were the most successful and achieved the most significant victories among all Soviet submarines...

 of the Soviet Navy

Soviet Navy

The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...

. Her keel was laid down by Krasnoye Sormovo in Gorky

Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...

 on 19 October 1938. She was launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 on 25 April 1939 and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 on 31 July 1941 in the Baltic Fleet

Baltic Fleet

The Twice Red Banner Baltic Fleet - is the Russian Navy's presence in the Baltic Sea. In previous historical periods, it has been part of the navy of Imperial Russia and later the Soviet Union. The Fleet gained the 'Twice Red Banner' appellation during the Soviet period, indicating two awards of...

, under the command of Captain Pavel Malantyenko.

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 4042 tons.

On 15 October 1942, caught on the surface while charging her batteries, S-13 was attacked by the Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 submarine chasers VMV-13 and VMV-15. During her crash dive

Crash dive

A crash dive is a maneuver performed by a submarine to submerge as quickly as possible to avoid attack. Crash diving from the surface to avoid attack has been largely rendered obsolete with the advent of nuclear-powered submarines as they operate constantly submerged and are unlikely to be found on...

, the submarine hit bottom, severely damaging her rudder and destroying her steering gear. The following depth charge

Depth charge

A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...

 attack worsened the damage, but S-13 escaped and made it back to Kronstadt

Kronstadt

Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...

.

During the next three years, Malantyenko was relieved by Alexander Marinesko

Alexander Marinesko

Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko was a Soviet sailor and, during World War II, the captain of the S-13 submarine, which sank the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff, with recent research showing that over 9,000 died when the ship sank.Born in Odessa, Marinesko was the son of a Romanian sailor and a...

 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 Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 coast, S-13 sank the 25,484-ton German liner Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with refugees and u-boat trainees, with three torpedo

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

es. 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 General von Steuben. 3,300 refugees and injured soldiers from the ship died, and only 300 survived http://www.grani.ru/opinion/sokolov/m.134310.html.

Marinesko hoped to be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union

Hero of the Soviet Union

The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...

. 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.