Black Sea campaigns (1941–1944)

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.

The major Soviet shipyards were located in Ukraine (Nikolayev) and on the Crimean Peninsula, then part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, at Sevastopol. The former was occupied in 1941 but although the latter was not occupied until July 1942 (Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)) the rest of Crimea were also occupied in 1941 rendering the shipyards largely unusable. 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.