Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
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The deadliest shipwreck in world history!
On January 30, 1945, the NS passenger ship "Wilhelm Gustloff", crammed with at least 10,300 people - refugees and members of the Wehrmacht - was torpedoed in the Baltic Sea and sank within an hour...:
At around 9 p.m. the Soviet submarine S-13 sighted the “Wilhelm Gustloff” off Stolpmünde...:
The "Wilhelm Gustloff" is under the command of the Kriegsmarine Koevettenkapitän Wilhelm Zahn...
... is flying the Nazi war flag and is being escorted by a warship, the torpedo boat "Löwe"...:
In addition to countless refugees, it also has a large number of armed soldiers on board.
As per the custom of war, this makes the ship a legitimate target!
At 21:16, the commander of S-13, Odessa native Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko...
... launch four torpedoes from about 700 meters away. One torpedo jammed, three hit the "Wilhelm Gustloff" on the bow, under E deck and in the engine room.
After a little over an hour, around 10:15 p.m., the ship sinks about 23 nautical miles from the Pomeranian coast..:
Over 9,000 people (probably more!) die in the freezing water - at least six times as many as the "Titanic" died!
Irony of history: This happened on the 12th anniversary of Hitler's "seizure of power"...
And even more irony of the story:
The submarine S 13 (rather the whole class several boats!) was a design of the German Germania shipyard (Kiel) and the Bremen "Deschimag" (Deutsche Schiffsmaschinenbau AG)!
Since the German state was forbidden from building submarines after the First World War by the Versailles Treaty, the design was given to the Soviet Union.
Construction of S-13 began on October 19, 1938. Launched on April 25, 1939, the boat entered service with the Baltic Red Banner Fleet on July 31, 1941. Home port was Turku, Finland.
The commander of the S 13, Captain 2nd rank Marinesko…
...on February 10th he also sank the steamer "Steuben", which was also full of refugees and soldiers...
...which in turn cost the lives of at least 4,000 people.
Marinesko was not awarded the title “Hero of the Soviet Union” for his actions, as he expected (and loudly demanded several times!) because he had a serious alcohol problem and was prone to indiscipline.
His superiors and the NKVD were almost as suspicious of the very familiar dealings that the popular commander maintained with his people.
Instead of a medal, Marinesko received a dishonorable discharge immediately after the war! Later he even spent two years in a prison camp for theft. In 1963 he died in Leningrad.
Bizarre: in 1990, 27 years after his death, Marinesko was rehabilitated and posthumously named "Hero of the Soviet Union" by Mikhail Gorbachev...:
Today a monument in Kaliningrad commemorates him...:
Another one stands in the courtyard of the house in Saint Petersburg where he had lived...:
On January 30, 1945, the NS passenger ship "Wilhelm Gustloff", crammed with at least 10,300 people - refugees and members of the Wehrmacht - was torpedoed in the Baltic Sea and sank within an hour...:
At around 9 p.m. the Soviet submarine S-13 sighted the “Wilhelm Gustloff” off Stolpmünde...:
The "Wilhelm Gustloff" is under the command of the Kriegsmarine Koevettenkapitän Wilhelm Zahn...
... is flying the Nazi war flag and is being escorted by a warship, the torpedo boat "Löwe"...:
In addition to countless refugees, it also has a large number of armed soldiers on board.
As per the custom of war, this makes the ship a legitimate target!
At 21:16, the commander of S-13, Odessa native Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko...
... launch four torpedoes from about 700 meters away. One torpedo jammed, three hit the "Wilhelm Gustloff" on the bow, under E deck and in the engine room.
After a little over an hour, around 10:15 p.m., the ship sinks about 23 nautical miles from the Pomeranian coast..:
Over 9,000 people (probably more!) die in the freezing water - at least six times as many as the "Titanic" died!
Irony of history: This happened on the 12th anniversary of Hitler's "seizure of power"...
And even more irony of the story:
The submarine S 13 (rather the whole class several boats!) was a design of the German Germania shipyard (Kiel) and the Bremen "Deschimag" (Deutsche Schiffsmaschinenbau AG)!
Since the German state was forbidden from building submarines after the First World War by the Versailles Treaty, the design was given to the Soviet Union.
Construction of S-13 began on October 19, 1938. Launched on April 25, 1939, the boat entered service with the Baltic Red Banner Fleet on July 31, 1941. Home port was Turku, Finland.
The commander of the S 13, Captain 2nd rank Marinesko…
...on February 10th he also sank the steamer "Steuben", which was also full of refugees and soldiers...
...which in turn cost the lives of at least 4,000 people.
Marinesko was not awarded the title “Hero of the Soviet Union” for his actions, as he expected (and loudly demanded several times!) because he had a serious alcohol problem and was prone to indiscipline.
His superiors and the NKVD were almost as suspicious of the very familiar dealings that the popular commander maintained with his people.
Instead of a medal, Marinesko received a dishonorable discharge immediately after the war! Later he even spent two years in a prison camp for theft. In 1963 he died in Leningrad.
Bizarre: in 1990, 27 years after his death, Marinesko was rehabilitated and posthumously named "Hero of the Soviet Union" by Mikhail Gorbachev...:
Today a monument in Kaliningrad commemorates him...:
Another one stands in the courtyard of the house in Saint Petersburg where he had lived...:
