Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko (Russian: Александр Иванович Маринеско, Ukrainian: Олександр Іванович Марiнеско, Romanian: Alexandru Marinescu; 15 January [O.S.

During the last year of World War II, he became known as the captain of the submarine S-13, which sank the German military transport ship Wilhelm Gustloff in the Baltic Sea in January 1945.

Born in Odessa, Marinesko was the son of Ion Marinescu, a Romanian sailor, and Tatiana Mihailovna Koval, a Ukrainian from Kherson Governorate.

Marinesko was awarded a golden watch and in 1940 promoted to captain-lieutenant (капитан-лейтенант, equivalent to Lieutenant Commander (LCDR/O-4) in the United States Navy).

On 30 January 1945, S-13 attacked and sank the Wilhelm Gustloff, which was evacuating civilians, mostly families with children, and military personnel from East Prussia.

Days later, on 10 February, Marinesko sank a second German ship with two torpedoes, the Steuben, carrying mostly wounded military personnel, and more than 800 civilians, who were evacuating East Prussia and Memel (now Klaipėda).

In 1990 Marinesko was posthumously awarded Hero of the Soviet Union by President Mikhail Gorbachev, after rehabilitation of the late submarine commander by the newspaper Izvestia.