black sea campaign.

[kriegsmarine221]

when the war reached the crimea only romania and bulgaria had access to the black sea. the germans also sent some armed barges by land. does anynone have any photos of these. and did the germans send any large ships there? ie. destroyers? because the soviet fleet had a battleship and numerous destroyers and torpedo boats i dont see why so many soviet ships were lost.

[mescal]

Most Soviet ships were sunk by airpower, IIRC.

The german also brought submarines to the Black Sea.
Those ships were type II, and formed the 30th Flotilla, based at Constanza.

http://www.uboat.net/flotillas/30flo.htm

[dragos03]

The Germans only had submarines + small craft (S-boats, R-boats, etc) in the Black Sea. However, these operated in cooperation with the Romanian fleet, which had several larger vessels (among them 4 destroyers, 3 subs, auxiliary cruisers, etc) and formed the bulk of the Axis fleet in the Black Sea. Italy also sent some small craft and mini-submarines.

Most Soviet ships were indeed sunk by aircraft.

There was only one major surface engagement in the Black Sea, at the start of the war when the Soviet fleet tried to attack the main Romanian base of Constanta. A Soviet destroyer was sunk, with a cruiser and another destroyer damaged.

[av0c]

The soviets main foe in the Black Sea was the Romanian Royal Navy with its 4 destroyers, 3 escorts, 8 t-boats, 3 gunboats, 1 submarine and more auxiliary cruisers and smaall boats. The soviets used only several times surface warships. Their main fighting units in action after 26 June 1941 was the subs and the planes tring to threat the convoys betwen Cosntanta and Sevastopol. So who could succesfuly opose those threats but the Romanian Navy's escorts and submarine hunters. (The C class or so called Fripone clas and the S class, the Austrian captured from 1918). Above those, starting 1942, once with the 6 VIIC U-boats arrival they posed a serios threat to the all warships of the Soviets on the Black Sea. Even if this formation could be considered a prety small force, they were well equiped, versatile and also disposed a well trained crew. Tha moral factor was the main weapon used by those 6 U boats. it should be mentioned that here in the black sea the Germans tried for the first time in the Eastern Europe the experimental immersion launched V rockets from a sub at Batumi, 1944.

[Sewer King]

A small aside about German U-boat action in the Black Sea, from Lawrence Paterson's good pictorial book U-Boat Combat Missions (London: Elephant Book Co Ltd, 2007; US edition Barnes & Noble Inc), page 23:

...more often than not, [the few small arms carried aboard a U-boat] were stored below deck in the magazine. (in the Black Sea -- where six Type II U-boats were deployed -- the small arms were used in fierce battles with Russian surface craft. That largely forgotten arena saw some of the fiercest surface-fighting undertaken by U-boats in World War II.)

Does anyone know any good accounts of such engagements? Any surfaced submarine caught at close range by enemy surface ships is desperate indeed, especially if so close that it must resort to its few small arms. Yet none of the six U-boats in the Black Sea were lost in that way -- instead three were lost as a result of air attack, and the other three scuttled after unrealized hopes of transferring them to the Turkish Navy.

-- Alan

[bf109 emil]

Sewer King, maybe try researching these 3 u-boats

'Hitler's Lost Fleet' Found in Black Sea
3 Feb 2008

To support Germany's campaign in the east, naval vessels were broken apart and then traveled by road and ferry boats to Romanian ports, where they were re-assembled and put into action. Submarines U-19, U-20, and U-23 were three of six submarines that made it to the Black Sea. In Aug 1944, Romania switched sides and joined the Allies, leaving German vessels in the area stranded. Unable to sail home, the three submarines were scuttled somewhere off the northern coast of Turkey

http://ww2db.com/news.php?news_id=88

[bf109 emil]

U-19

In the World War II, in order to support the war from sea, Germany who was in war with Russia, decided to establish a sea fleet in the Black Sea. After the neutral side Turkey closed the straits, Germans bring their ships to Romania by boats from Elbe and Tuna rivers and by trucks from the roads. The sea fleet established in the Kostence harbour was a lot of attack boats, mine cleaner ships and six submarines in his structure. The submarines fighted against the Russian Fleet in the Black Sea. But the land wars turned against the Germans. Red army, captured Romania in August 1944 and sunked the three of the submarines in the Kostence harbour. The other three which managed to escape from the harbour was stucked in the Black sea after Russia captured Bulgaria. Without any other chances the captains of the submarines decided to sunk their submarines near the Turkish Coast. Their plan was to reach the Aegean islands and somehow to reach Germany from there. In the night of 10 th and 11th of september 1944 the submarines have been sunked by their crew near Eregli. But unfortunately after a few days in Turkiye they were caught and kept heldive in Beysehir and Isparta for two years

6 u-boats which operated in the black sea and where they resthttp://www.turkiye-wrecks.com/uboat19eng.html

[DrG]

In the Black Sea there were also Italian torpedo boats and pocket submarines: http://www.regiamarina.net/others/black ... a_I_us.htm.

Guido

[Victor]

German military ships in the Black Sea in 1942-1943:
- 30. UB Flotille: U9, U18, U19, U20, U23, U24
- 1. Sb Flotille: S26, S27, S28, S40, S42, S45, S47, S49, S51, S52, S72, S131, S148
- 3. Artillerie Trager Flotille (8 MFP)
- 3. Raeumboote Flotille: Rb-35, 37, 163,164,165, 166, 196, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 209, 216, 248
- 30. Raeumboote Flotille (21 FRb)
- Donau Flotille (8-10 FRb)
- 1. UB Jagd Flotille: UJ102, UJ103, UJ104, UJ105, UJ106, UJ115, UJ116, UJ117
- 3. UB Jagd Flotille: UJ301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 317, 318
- 23. UB Jagd Flotille: UJ 2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, 2306, 2307, 2308, 2310, 2311, 2312, 2313, 2314, 2316
- 31. Geleit Flotille (21 ships)
- Haffen Sicherheit Flotille: Odessa, Sevastopol etc.
- 1., 3., 5. and 7. Landung FLotille (over 60 MFP)

[Mischa]

Hello,
it is my advice. If will know more about Greman actions in the area of the Black See in the time 1941-1944, read, make use of following sources:

- Gerd Enders "Auch kleine Igel haben Stacheln", Koehler, Herford, 1984


- Gerd Enders "Deutsche U-Boote zum Schwarzen Meer: 1942-1944 - Eine Reise ohne Wiederkehr", Verlag E. S. Mittler & Sohn GmbH, Hamburg-Berlin-Bonn, 2001



- Rudolf Arendt "Letzter Befehl: Versenken!”, Ullstein, 2003




-Gerd Enders "Die 30. U-Flottille im Schwarzen Meer” in Schiff & Zeit 40/1989.
Regards
Mischa

[bil]

Thank you-do you know if any of these books have been printed in english?[It takes me forever to read them in German,and I am never sure if I have gotten the information correct!] ---bil

[PT Dockyard]

Try " The Soviets as Naval Opponents 1941-1945" by Friedrich Ruge. You can pick it up cheap on Amazon. It has some fair detail of the actions involved.

Dave G
The PT Dockyard
http://ptdockyard.tripod.com

[Tosun Saral]

Not only in WWII but in WWI German submanires operated in the Black Sea. UB 46 which sailed from Germany on Sept. 19th 1916 and arrived to Istanbul on Oct. 7th 1916. The sub operated in the Black Sea. While returning to Istanbul she hit a mine at Karaburun. A Turkish firm which was mining coal at the shore found the sub in 1993. She is now exibited at the Naval Museum in Çanakkale(Dardanelles).

[Tosun Saral]

Selçuk Koray and Kapitaen zur See Rudolf Arendt of U 23

[HMan]

There was only one major surface engagement in the Black Sea, at the start of the war when the Soviet fleet tried to attack the main Romanian base of Constanta. A Soviet destroyer was sunk, with a cruiser and another destroyer damaged.

Do you happen to have more details on this -- i.e. date, order of battle, maps?

Thanks!