Black Sea campaigns (1941-44)

Black Sea Campaigns
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Soviet battleship Sevastopol (Parizhskaya Kommuna)
Date 22 June 1941 – August 1944 Location Black Sea Result Soviet Victory
Belligerents
Romania Germany Italy Bulgaria Croatia Hungary	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Horia Macellariu Helmut Rosenbaum Francesco Mimbelli	Filipp Oktyabrskiy Lev Vladimirsky
Strength
Romania 4 destroyers 12 torpedo boats 4 gunboats 3 submarines 2 Minelayers Bulgaria 4 torpedo boats Germany 6 German Type II submarines 10 S-boats 23 R boats Italy 4 MAS 6 Midget submarines Croatia 12 submarine chasers 47 patrol ships	Soviet Union 1 battleship 6 cruisers 18 destroyers 44 submarines 2 gunboats 18 minelayers 84 torpedo boats

The Black Sea Campaigns were the operations of the Axis and Soviet naval forces in the Black Sea and its coastal regions during World War II between 1941 and 1944, including in support of the land forces.

The Black Sea Fleet was as surprised by Operation Barbarossa as the rest of the Soviet Military. The Axis forces in the Black Sea consisted of the Romanian and Bulgarian Navies together with German and Italian units transported to the area via rail and Canal. Although the Soviets enjoyed an overwhelming superiority in surface ships over the Axis, this was effectively negated by German air superiority and most of the Soviet ships sunk were destroyed by bombing. For the majority of the war, the Black Sea Fleet was commanded by Vice Admiral Filipp Oktyabrskiy, its other commander being Lev Vladimirsky.

All of the major Soviet shipyards were located in the Ukraine (Nikolayev) and Crimea (Sevastopol) and were occupied in 1941. Many incomplete ships which were afloat were evacuated to harbors in Georgia which provided the main bases for the surviving fleet. These ports such as Poti, however had very limited repair facilities which significantly reduced the operational capability of the Soviet Fleet.

On 22 June 1941, the Black Sea Fleet of the Soviet Navy consisted of:

The Royal Romanian Navy consisted of four destroyers, twelve torpedo boats, four gunboats, six minelayers, three amphibious landing self-propelled barges, four submarine chasers, three submarines and five midget submarines:

As Turkey was neutral during World War II, the Axis could not transfer warships to the Black Sea via the Bosphorus. However, several small ships were transferred from the North Sea via rail, street and canal networks to the Danube. These included six Type IIB U-boats of the 30th U-boat Flotilla which were dis-assembled and shipped to Romania along the Danube. They were then re-assembled at the Romanian Galați shipyard in late 1942 and afterwards sent to Constanța. The Germans also transported 10 S-boats (Schnellboote) and 23 R-boats (Räumboote) via the Danube and built armed barges and KTs (Kriegstransporter, literally war transports) in the captured Nikolayev Shipyards in Mykolaiv. Some ships were obtained in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary, and then converted to serve the German cause, such as the S-boat tender Romania, the minelayer Xanten and the Anti-submarine trawler UJ-115 Rosita. Additional vessels were built in German or local shipyards, captured from Soviets, or transferred from the Mediterranean nominally as merchant ships. The German Black Sea fleet ultimately operated hundreds of medium and small warships or auxiliaries before its self-destruction immediately prior to the defection of Bulgaria. Very few vessels were able to make good their escape via the Danube.

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Wikipedia