Soviet submarine S-13

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 civilian cruise ship Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with civilians and military personnel, with three torpedoes. Recent calculations estimate more than 9,000 people were killed, the worst loss of life in maritime history.[2][3][4]

On 10 February 1945, S-13 sank another German military transport ship Steuben.[5] 3,300 civilians and military personnel from the ship died, and 300 survived.[6]

Marinesko was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union in 1990.

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

Ships sunk by S-13[7]

Date	Ship	Flag	Tonnage	Notes
11 September 1942	Hera		1379 GRT	freighter (torpedo)
12 September 1942	Jussi H.		2325 GRT	freighter (torpedo)
18 September 1942	Anna W.		290 GRT	freighter (gunfire)
30 January 1945	Wilhelm Gustloff		25484 GRT	transport ship (torpedo)
10 February 1945	General Steuben		14660 GRT	transport ship (torpedo)
Total:			44,138 GRT

S-13 also shelled and damaged the German fishing vessel, Siegfried (563 GRT), which was damaged but escaped.[8]