Horia Macellariu
| Horia Macellariu | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 28, 1894 Craiova, Romania |
| Died | July 11, 1989 (aged 95) Bucharest, Romania |
| Allegiance |
 Kingdom of Romania
|
| Service/branch |
 Royal Romanian Navy
|
| Rank | Counter Admiral |
| Battles/wars | Black Sea Campaigns (1941–44) |
| Awards | |
Horia Macellariu (28 April 1894, Craiova – 11 July 1989, Bucharest) was a Romanian Counter Admiral, commander of the Royal Romanian Navy during the Second World War.
During the war against the USSR, the Royal Romanian Navy consisted mainly of 4 destroyers, 3 torpedo boats, 3 gunboats, 7 monitors, 4 minelayers, 3 submarines, 2 royal yachts and 1 submarine depot ship. Smaller warships included 9 motor torpedo boats, 3 built by Vosper and 6 Dutch licence-built British Power Boat hulls, which were bought by Romania and outfitted at the Galați shipyard. The submarines Rechinul and Marsuinul along with the minelayer Amiral Murgescu were also built at Galați. Romanian naval facilities also reassembled, repaired and maintained the 6 German Type IIB submarines of the 30th U-boat Flotilla as well as numerous S-boats. The small flotilla of Italian CB-class midget submarines also received repair and maintenance from Romanian facilities. After the surrender of Italy to the Allies in September 1943, these submarines were handed over to Romania.
On 22–23 June 1941, Romanian monitors Mihail Kogălniceanu and Basarabia, supported by four patrol boats, repelled two attacks of the Soviet Danube Flotilla (6 monitors, 22 gunboats, 7 trawlers, 1 minelayer and 6 patrol boats), sinking one patrol boat and damaging two more as well as two Soviet monitors.
The naval war in the Black Sea commenced on 26 June 1941, when the Soviet destroyer leaders Kharkov and Moskva along with the cruiser Voroshilov attacked the Romanian port of Constanța. Macellariu had three warships available for defending the port: the destroyers Mărăști and Regina Maria and the minelayer Amiral Murgescu. These were supported by the German coastal battery Tirpitz. The Soviet warships arrived near Constanța at dawn and began shelling the harbor. Mărăști and Regina Maria counterattacked. Surprised by the level of resistance and the accuracy of the return fire, the Soviet fleet withdrew, losing the destroyer leader Moskva into a Romanian minefield, laid by the Romanian minelayers Amiral Murgescu, Regele Carol I and Aurora between 16 and 19 June. Her sister ship Kharkov was damaged by the German coastal battery Tirpitz while the cruiser Voroshilov was also damaged by Romanian mines. Amiral Murgescu claimed to have shot down 2 Soviet aircraft during the battle. This was the only encounter between major warships in the Black Sea during the entire war.
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