Lunin Nikolay Aleksandrovich - Rear Admiral who heroically showed commanding qualities during the Great Patriotic War. He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. His main activity was the command of submarines. As the commander of the K-21 submarine, in 1942 he managed to accomplish a feat that affected the balance of the opposing forces in the northern seas.
Nikolai Alexandrovich Lunin: biography, childhood
Nikolai Alexandrovich Lunin was born on August 21, 1907. My father gave his whole life to the sea, lived and worked in the coastal city of Odessa. From an early age, the child saw the sea and ships, which left a vivid impression in the head of a little boy, and he decided to connect his future fate with the service in the Navy. At the age of three, the boy moved to Mariupol with his family. This city is also located on the seashore. The child's father continued to work on the ship, which cleared the water near the port of the city.
Nikolai went to gather knowledge at a school near the marine station, where in those years the children of people who worked in the navy studied. The school was unofficially even called the school of sailors. From the age of 12, the boy began his working life on the ship, having worked as a young man on a merchant marine, where his father served as a sailor. Having completed his school life in 1924, the young man was determined to continue his studies and the next year, having moved to Rostov-on-Don, he entered the naval school. Studying in this institution, he becomes a member of the Communist Party.
Carier start
In 1929, Nikolai Alexandrovich Lunin graduated from the school, and a year later the guy was drafted into the Red Army, where his primary service was connected with a cryptographic case. Since 1931, after the end of service and demobilization, the professional career of the future hero begins. Lunin began with working as a dean in one of the Odessa institutes, then he leaves for the ship "Vega", where he first becomes an assistant, and then the captain of the vessel. Since 1933, he has been working as a navigator on an oil tanker, and since 1935 he has become the captain of an oil tanker.
Lunin Nikolay Alexandrovich (Russian submarine fleet). Service start
Since 1935, service to the navy begins. In 1937 he completed the courses of commanders at the military educational institution. After this event, activity begins directly on submarines. Initially, he played secondary roles on the Shch-31 submarine until the beginning of spring 1938, then he served as the commander of the Shch-404 submarine.
Unfortunately, in the historical realities of the Soviet state there was a period of repression, and in 1938 Lunina overtook the fate of the convict. However, a year later, probably realizing the mistake, he was acquitted, assigned the rank of captain-lieutenant, reinstated at his place of work and sent to serve in the northern seas.
Commander Shch-421
Since the spring of 1940 was followed by the appointment of the commander of the submarine Shch-421. It was a boat well equipped with military equipment and held military exercises before the war. The submarine began combat activity on the first day of the war. In 1942, according to Lunin, his submarine attacked and was able to destroy 7 enemy ships with a total displacement of almost 50 thousand tons. However, only one successful attack found confirmation in the documents. On February 5 of this year, the German ship Consul Schulze was sunk. Not taking this into account, the state recognized the merits of Lunin Nikolai Alexandrovich, and in 1942 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for success in naval battles. In addition to the title, he was awarded an award in the form of the Order of Lenin and the Golden Star medal. The submarine itself is also honorably awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
Commander K-21
In 1942, one of the most combat-ready underwater vehicles was entrusted to the leadership of a mature commander. Such a submarine was the cruising K-21. Until now, this boat was often in battles; a well-coordinated combat team worked on its board. The armament was advanced, taking into account the technology of those years. On board were several torpedo tubes, and artillery weapons, in addition, the submarine was equipped with mines. Having taken command of the boat in March, at the beginning of next month, Lunin commanded the salvation of the injured submarine Shch-402. However, until July, the success of the destruction of the forces of German troops in the combat commander of the submarine did not happen.
Lunin’s feat: torpedoing the battleship Tirpitz
In the summer of 1942, a submarine led by Lunin headed for the coast of Norway with the aim of military operations in the cold waters of the northern seas. On July 5, the soldiers on the boat saw German ships, one of them was the battleship Tirpitz and several large cruisers. The commander decided to attack the German ships. As a result, the submarine fired several torpedo salvos at enemy targets. However, the attack itself took place in conditions of extremely low visibility, in addition, the German ships began to maneuver quickly, and finally the submarine plunged into the depths. Therefore, Lunin did not see the results of the attack. However, several explosions characteristic of the damage to the ship were heard. Despite the lack of visual information, the submariner Nikolay Lunin counted and recorded that the battleship was damaged, and one of the cruisers was sunk.
Interesting facts from the life of Lunin
An interesting fact is that the German leadership did not confirm the loss of their ships. After the attack, the fascist ships moved at high speed under their own power. Information that a ship was being repaired has not been recorded anywhere. Moreover, in the documents of the battleship there was no mention of this attack at all. And finally, it is now reliably known that on that day there were no losses among German ships. The Soviet authorities massively elucidated the fact of the attack, and the foreign press spread information. This event brought about critical changes in the life of Father Lunin. The Nazis seized the father of our hero, and then he was publicly shot in the center of Rostov-on-Don.
The Soviet command confirmed the destruction of enemy ships. Moreover, as a result of this attack, the German squadron was forced to retreat. The Allied Force convoy, which Tirpitz had planned to attack, was not damaged. Thus, the K-21 submarine, under the leadership of Lunin Nikolai Alexandrovich, completed its tasks. Later, in the autumn of the same year, following the results of the operation, the submarine was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
Looking ahead, it is worth mentioning that interesting fact that during the years of military service, 17 successfully flooded enemy targets were attributed to Lunin. However, the documents proved the death of only four vessels.
Military service from 1942 to 1943
Over the next period, almost all of the tasks facing the command of the submarine were completed. For a year, Lunin managed to sink 10 enemy ships. So, in the late autumn of 1942, thanks to the effective actions of the submarine commander, the large transport ship Rigel was destroyed off the coast of Norway. At the end of the winter of 1943, when the boat was off the coast of Norway, in enemy waters, a fire broke out on board. Thanks to the effective actions of the sailors, he was eliminated. Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolay Aleksandrovich Lunin made a somewhat adventurous, but ultimately correct decision after completing the mission and withdrawing from the enemy’s waters. The boat passed the Germans over the water with the lights on. No one could believe in such courage of the crew, and the Germans took the boat as their own. As a result, K-21 managed to sink several patrol boats and moorings to which they were moored. The extraordinary thinking abilities of the ship's commander led to success.
In 1944, military service on the war fronts for Lunin ended. Since the beginning of spring this year, he studies at the Naval Academy, after graduation he is awarded the rank of rear admiral.
Postwar years and death
After the end of hostilities, Nikolai Alexandrovich Lunin, whose biography is considered in the article, led the squadrons of submarines, developed scientific activities and defended his thesis. In 1962, due to poor health, he retired. In 1967, he came to the city of Mariupol to plunge into the memories of his childhood. This was his last visit to a small homeland. 1970 was the last year in the life of Lunin Nikolai Alexandrovich. He was buried in St. Petersburg (in those years - Leningrad), now his grave is in the Theological Cemetery.