About the book: 2015 / In 1945, during one combat campaign on the submarine of the Baltic Fleet S-13, captain of the 3rd rank Alexander Marinesko torpedoed and sank two ocean liners, on which more than 8 thousand Germans died. One of the ships was the second largest ship in the German passenger fleet, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Despite the significance of this fact, which many consider a feat, Marinesko was not awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during his lifetime, although such a presentation was prepared by his immediate superiors. The high rank was awarded only in 1990, after numerous appeals from public and veteran organizations, almost thirty years after the death of the submariner himself. Despite the restoration of historical justice, interest in the name of A. I. Marinesko has not faded in our time. Why was he not awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1945? Was he really a libertine and a drunkard, or was all this the slander of envious people? Was the sinking of liners with many refugees on board a feat or a war crime? Can the sinking of the liner Wilhelm Gustloff be called the event that shook Hitler's Reich to its core? The authors of the book tried to answer these and other questions using an exclusively documentary basis: the work includes about 150 archival documents, the vast majority of which are being published for the first time, since until recently they were in secret storage. The work is intended not only for specialists, but also for the general public who are interested in the fate of A. I. Marinesko, the truth about this very controversial figure, whom many consider a folk hero.