Black Sea Campaigns (1941-44)

The Black Sea Campaigns (1941-44) describes operations of the Axis naval forces in the Black Sea and its coastal regions during the Second World War, including in support of the land forces, and non-combat operations.

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 Filipp Oktyabrskiy, its other commander being Lev Vladimirsky.

All of the major Soviet shipyards were located in the Ukraine (Nikolayev and Sevastopol) and were occupied in 1941. Many incomplete ships which were afloat were evacuated to harbours 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.

Soviet Naval Strength

On 22 June 1941 the Black Sea Fleet consisted of:

Axis Naval Strength

Romanian Navy

The Romanian Navy consisted of 4 destroyers ( 2 Marasti class, 2 Regele Ferdinand class), 6 Fleet Torpedo boats, 3 submarines, 2 Minelayers and 7 Motor Torpedo boats.

Germany and Italy

As Turkey was neutral during World War Two, the Axis could not transfer warships to the Black Sea via the Bosphorus. However, several small ships were transferred via the rail and canal network. These included six Type II U-boats which were dis-assembled and shipped to Constanza in 1942. The Germans also transported ten S-boats ("Schnellboote") and twenty-three R-boats ("Räumboote") via the Danube and built several armed barges in the captured Nikolayev Shipyards in Mykolaiv.

The Italian Royal Navy ("Regia Marina") dispached a small force to the Black Sea. The force dispatched included several CB type Midget submarines and a flotilla of Torpedoe Armed Motorboats ("Motoscafo Armato Silurante, or MAS"). The MAS were commanded by Francesco Mimbelli and were based in Yalta.

Operations in 1941

The Soviets began the war in the Black Sea by a bombardment of Constanza on 26th June. During this operation the "destroyer leader Moskva" was lost to mines while evading fire from coastal batteries. The Black Sea Fleet supplied the besieged garrison in Odessa and evacuated a significant part of the force (86,000 soldiers, 150,000 civilians) at the end of October, but lost the "destroyer Frunze" and a gunboat to Stukas in the process. The Black Sea Fleet played a valuable part in defeating the initial assault on Sevastopol. In December there was an amphibious operation against Kerch which resulted in the recapture of the Kerch Peninsula. A naval detachment including the Cruiser Krasny Krim remainded in Sevastopol to give gunfire support. Soviet submarines also raided axis shipping on the Romanian and Bulgarian coasts sinking 29,000 GRT of shipping.

Operations in 1942

Operations in 1942 were dominated by the Siege of Sevastopol. During the winter soviet warships including the only battleship Parizhskaya Kommuna provided fire support and supply missions near Sevastopol. The Soviets continued supply missions until 27th June, losses were heavy and included the cruiser "Chervonnaya Ukraina", "destroyer leader Tashkent" and 6 modern destroyers. The cruiser Voroshilov and destroyers tried to intervene without success in the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula in May and the Soviets could not prevent a landing across the Kerch strait in the Taman Peninsula in September. The remainder of the Black Sea Fleet evacuated to harbours in the Caucasus which had very limited facilities. Soviet submarines were active in the western part of the Black Sea where they attacked Axis shipping, unfortunately this included sinking the refugee ships Struma and "Cankaya"

Operations in 1943

In 1943 the Black Sea Fleet was reduced to the following ships:
* Battleship Sevastopol
* four cruisers (two Kirov class, Krasniy Krim and Krasniy Kavkaz)
* destroyer leader Kharkov
* 5 modern and 3 old destroyers
* 29 submarines

All of these ships suffered from poor maintanace due to a lack of facilities.

Operations initially consisted of several offensive operations by the Soviets including the defence of Malaya Zemlya in Novorossiysk and some coastal bombardments and raids.

As the war was going badly for the Axis on other fronts the Germans began to evacuate the Kuban Bridgehead in September. This was successfully accomplished. The destroyer leader Kharkov and two destroyers (Sposobny and Besposchadny) were sunk by stukas while raiding the Crimea. As a result of this loss Stalin insisted on personally authorising the use of any large ships. The Kerch-Eltigen Operation followed in November.

Operations in 1944

By early 1944 the Soviet surface fleet was practically non operational due to a poor state of repair. Most of the offensive work was carried out by small vessels and the Soviet Naval air force. The land situation had significantly deteriorated for the Axis. The area around Odessa was liberated in March trapping the Axis forces in The Crimea. The last Axis forces near Sevastopol surrendered on 9th May 1944 and a considerable number of men were evacuated. - see Battle of the Crimea (1944) for details

See also

* Baltic Sea Campaigns (1939-1945)

References

* Ruge, Fredrich - The Soviets as Naval Opponents 1979, Naval Press Annapolis ISBN 0 850959
* [http://flot.sevastopol.info/history/ Black Sea Fleet History (Russian Language)]
* [http://road-crimea.narod.ru/2003/fleet.htm Black Sea fleet History Unofficial (Russian Language)]