S-13
Russian special postage stamp from 1996
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The S-13 ( Cyrillic С-13) was a Soviet submarine of Stalinez class , which during the Second World War was used.
The class was designed by the Den Haager Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw on behalf of the Germania shipyard in Kiel and Deschimag in Bremen . Since Germany was prohibited from building and purchasing all underwater vehicles under Article 191 of the Versailles Treaty , the design was handed over to the Soviet Union. Construction of the S-13 began on October 19, 1938. Launched on April 25, 1939 , the boat was put into service with the Baltic Red Banner Fleet on July 31, 1941 .
The submarine became famous when it sank the former German KdF ship Wilhelm Gustloff with three torpedo hits on January 30, 1945 under Captain Alexander Iwanowitsch Marinesko . The ship set out from Gotenhafen on the same day to bring around 1,500 marines and military assistants to the west, and also transported over 8,500 civilians. When it sank after the torpedo at around 10:50 p.m. at the height of Stolpmünde , around 9,000 people were killed. The exact number of victims is not known because the embarkation on the Wilhelm Gustloff was hastily carried out and not all passengers were registered. Their demise is one of the most serious maritime disasters .
Only about two weeks later, on February 10, 1945, the submarine torpedoed the Steuben, a second passenger ship with about 4,000 people on board. In total, S-13 sank five ships with a total of 44,138 GRT .
On September 7, 1954, the S-13 was decommissioned and scrapped in 1956.
Aftermath
- Günter Grass mentioned S-13 in his novel Im Krebsgang. Steidl, Göttingen 2002, ISBN 3-88243-800-2 .
Web links
- S-13 at uboat.net (engl.)