SOVIET BLACK SEA FLEET ORDER OF BATTLE, JUNE 22ND, 1941

SOVIET BLACK SEA FLEET ORDER OF BATTLE, JUNE 22ND, 1941

Alexis Mehtidis

- One battleship of the Gangut-class : Parizhskaya Kommuna

- One Svetlana-class cruiser : Krasny Kavkaz

- Two Svetlana / Admiral Butakov-class cruisers : Krasny Krym & Chervona Ukraina

- The old cruiser Komintern used as a training ship

- Two large destroyers ( flotilla leaders ) of the Leningrad-class ( Project 1 ) : Moskva & Kharkov

- One Tashkent-class destroyer : Tashkent

- Six Type 7 destroyers : Bditelnyi, Besposhchadnyi, Bezuprechnyi, Bodryi, Boikiy & Bistryi

- Two Type-7U destroyers : Smyshlonnyi & Isoobrazitelnyi. Three other units of the same class
( Soverscheenyi, Svobodnyi & Sposobnyi ) were being completed or in sea trials

- Five old destroyers : Frunze ( Pospeshnyy- or Frunze-class ); Dzerzhinskiy, Nezamozhnik, Zheleznyakov

& Shaumyan ( Gadzhibey- or Dzerzhisky-class )

- Forty-four submarines in two brigades :

- 1st Brigade : D-4 Revolyutsioner, D-5 Spartakovets, D-6 Yakobinets, L-4 Garibaldiets, L-5
Charist, L-6 Karbonari, S-31 to 34, Shch-201 Sazan, Shch-202 Seld, Shch-203 Kambala, Shch-
204 Minoga, Shch-205 Nerpa, Shch-206 to 215

- 2nd Brigade : A-1 to A-5 ( AG-Amerikanskiy Golland--class ); M-31 to 36, M-51, M-52, M-54,
M-58 to 60 & M-62. It has to be noted that the five A-class submarines were only used in training
with M-55 ( a small M-class submarine ) that was not part of a brigade. There also was a small ‘
Pygmy ’ type submarine not operational and stored on land.

- Five gunboats : Krasnaya Abkhaziya, Krasnyy Adzharistan, Krasnaya Armeniya, Kraznaya Gruziya &
Krasnaya Moldaviya ( Elpidifor-class )

- Thirteen minesweepers of the Tral-class : T-401 Tral, T-402 Minrep, T-403 Gruz, T-404 Schchit, T-405
Vzyvatelny, T-406 Iskatelny, T-407 Mina, T-408 Yakory, T-409 Garpun, T-410 Vsryv, T-411 Zashchitnik,
T-412 Arsenii Raskin & T-413 ( the last two in sea trials )

- Two old minesweepers : T-39 Doroteya & T-69 Dzhalita

file:///C|/public_html/site/HISTORY/volume4/431/Sovi...20Black%20Sea%20Fleet%20orbat%2022%20June%201941.htm (1 of 4)2/25/2006 3:42:59 PM

 SOVIET BLACK SEA FLEET ORDER OF BATTLE, JUNE 22ND, 1941

- Twenty-four auxiliary minesweepers : TK-71 to 77, TK-81 to 87, TK-90 Proletarsky Luch, K-91 ( sic, TK-
91 ? ) Komsomolets, TK-92 Pionyer, TK-93 Vega, TK-94 Baydukov, TK-95 Skhumi, TK-96 Chkalov, TK-
97 Revvoyenssoviet, TK-98 Dniestr & TK-99 Kuibishev

- Seventy-six motor torpedo boats : one Tupolev type ( ex-GANT-4 ), one G-6 used as command vessel,
one G-8, nine Sh-4 used for training, one experimental SM-4, one experimental ‘ Diesel ’ ( ? ), one
Komsomolets-class, one D-2 used for communications, fifty-six G-5 and four D-3. The G-5s were
organized in five divisions :

- 1st Division : TKA-11, 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 81, 91, 101 & 121

- 2nd Division : TKA-72, 82, 92, 102, 112 & 122

- 3rd Division : TKA-23, 33, 43, 53, 63, 73, 83, 93, 103, 113 & 123. This division also had TKA-13
of the Komsomolets-class

- 4th Division : TKA-14, 24, 34, 44, 54, 64, 74, 84, 94, 104, 124, 164, 174 & 184

- 5th Division : TKA-15, 25, 35, 55, 65, 75, 85, 95, 105, 115, 125 & 145

- Forty-eight submarine chasers of various classes ( e.g. MO-1, MO-2, MO-4 etc. ) : SKA.MO-01 to 06,
SKA.MO-011 to 017, SKA.MO-019 etc.

- Auxilliary ships, other requisitioned vessels ( such as the tanker Grosniy ) and other smaller vessels

- A total of 7846 mines were available ( 7115 defensive and 731 offensive )

[1]
- Black Sea Naval Aviation ( VVS-TChF ) had 651 planes and seaplanes ( of which 625 operational on
June 22nd – nominally, 350 I-153 and I-15bis - the theoretical strength provided by the operational
[2]
deployment plans was 387 - ) :

[3]
- 63 BAB ( Bomber Brigade ) : 2 MTAP ( DB-3, DB-3F & DB-3T ), 40 BAP & 62 BAP ( SB-2
bombers )

[4]
- 1 SAB ( Mixed Brigade ) : 8 IAP ( Fighter Regiment ) with Polikarpov I-16, I-15bis & I-153,
[5]
32 IAP with I-16, 119 ORAP ( Reconnaissance Regiment ) with Beriev MBR-2 & 116 ORAP
with MBR-2, GST & two MTB-2

[6] [7]
-Ten independent squadrons with I-16, I-153, Beriev MRB-2, KOR-1 etc.

file:///C|/public_html/site/HISTORY/volume4/431/Sovi...20Black%20Sea%20Fleet%20orbat%2022%20June%201941.htm (2 of 4)2/25/2006 3:42:59 PM

 SOVIET BLACK SEA FLEET ORDER OF BATTLE, JUNE 22ND, 1941

- Other sources give the following strengths of the Black Sea Fleet : 1 battleship, 2 modern 3 old and 1
training cruisers, 3 flotilla leaders, 5 old and 8 modern destroyers ( 14 ? ), 2 patrol ships / escort vessels
( torpedo boats ), 4 gunboats ?, 47 ( 44 ? ) submarines, 15 ( 12 ? ) minesweepers, 84 ( 78 ? ) torpedo
[8]
cutters ( torpedo boats ) and 625 aircraft .

Note :

Auxiliary vessels, marine forces and coastal artillery forces ( more than 1224 artillery pieces in total of
more than 45mm caliber, including some 305mm and 356mm pieces and manned by 10894 men ) are not
included. A source gives the total of 146899 personnel for all Soviet Navy land forces.

Sources :

- Main source was : Frederic Stahl, ‘ 1941 – La Marine sovietique face a ‘ Barbarossa ’ ’ – The Soviet
Navy faces Barbarossa, in Navires & Histoire 20 Octobre 2003

- Secondary sources :

- ' JANE'S Fighting ships of World War II ', New York : Crescent Books, 1998 ( a reprint of
the 1946/47 edition )
- Siegfried Breyer, ‘ Soviet warship development Volume one : 1917 – 1937 ’, London :
Conway, 1992
- Whitley, M. J., ' Zerstorer im Zweiten Weltkrieg - Technik, Klassen, Typen ' – Destroyers in
the Second World War – Tecnic, Classes, Types, Stuttgart : Motorbuch Verlag, 1991.
- Lennart Anderson, Soviet Aircraft and Aviation 1917-1941, London : Putnam, 1994
- Hekans aviation page - Biplane Fighter Aces from the Second World War ( http://surfcity.
kund.dalnet.se/index.html )
- Huan, Claude, La Flotte Rouge – The Red Fleet, Nantes : Marins editions, 2000
- Maslov, Mikhail, Polikarpov I-15bis, in Avions 127 Octobre 2003
- Przemyslaw Budzbon, ‘ Soviet Navy at war 1941-1945 ’, London : Arms & Armour Press,
1989
- Rohwer, J. & Hummelchen, G., ‚ Chronology of the war at sea 1939 – 1945 ’, Annapolis :
Naval Institute Press, 1992
- Koulikov V., ‘ L’aviation sovietique face a Barbarossa ’, Aero Journal No 19 Juin-Juillet 2001

[1]
VVS ChF, according to Kulikov. He, also, gives a quite different composition of the whole Black Sea Naval
Aviation which is given below :

- 62 BAD : 7, 8 & 32 IAP; 119 MRAP

- 63 BAD : 2 MTAP, 40 & 63 SBAP

file:///C|/public_html/site/HISTORY/volume4/431/Sovi...20Black%20Sea%20Fleet%20orbat%2022%20June%201941.htm (3 of 4)2/25/2006 3:42:59 PM

 SOVIET BLACK SEA FLEET ORDER OF BATTLE, JUNE 22ND, 1941

[2]
Of the Polikarpov biplanes, 155 ( 73 I-153 and 82 I-15bis ) were actually available : 65 I-15bis with the units
above, 9 in repairs, 2 in reserve and 6 with ChMAS ( Chkola Mladchikh Aviatsionnikh Spetsialistov – Technical
NCO School ).

[3]
Lesnitchenko mentions this unit as being equipped with Pe-2s ‘ a month before the war ’.
[4]
This brigade is, also, mentioned as the 62nd Air Brigade with 8 IAP ( Sebastopol ) : 30 I-153 and I-15bis, 32 IAP
( Simferopol ) : 70 I-153 and I-15bis ( Anderson mentions 32 IAP as having ‘ a dozen ’ I-16s at Evpatoriya; he, also,
mentions that it had MiG-3s too, that were delivered in May/June 1941 )
) and 9 IAP ( close to Tchernomorskoie ) : 64 I-153 and I-15bis.

[5]
32 IAP also had a ‘ Special Mission Squadron ’, formed within the 2nd Squadron at Evpatoria in 1940, with
Tupolev TB-3s as mother-ships carrying two I-16SPB-BRAB-500 – that were first delivered in September 1940 - in
a composite configuration ( the Zveno composites - Z-SPB - ). On the night of June 21st / 22nd it was at Belbeck
operational aerodrome near Sevastopol. Two of these composites were used operationally on July 26th – August 1st
according to others -.
[6]
Three of these were 87 OIAE ( Simferopol and attached to Azov Flotilla ) : 45 I-153 - Hekans Aviation Page
claims that the unit was equipped with I-152s ( I-15bis ) -, 93 OIAE ( Novorossiysk ) : 70 I-153 and I-15bis and 96
OIAE ( Ismail airfield, Nikolaev and attached to Danube Flotilla – given as OAE by Kulikov - ) : 40 I-153 - Hekans
Aviation Page mentions the unit being equipped with only 3 I-153 and 14 I-15bis ( I-152 ) -. Kulikov mentions ten
OAE.

[7]
A 7 IAP ( bassed at Podpolkovnik ) is mentioned by Hekans Aviation Page as being organic to VVS TChF too.
Anderson mentions that deliveries of the MiG-3 began in May-June 1941 to the 32 IAP at Sevastopol – see also note
2 for 1 SAB order of battle – and that an 11th Aviapolk was equipped with Polikarpov I-5s in 1941 in the ground-
attack role, was based in northern Crimea for the defence of Sevastopol.
[8]
Lennart mentions 1445 combat aircraft at the disposition of the Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Northern Fleets in June
1941, of which 763 were fighters. The total number of naval aircraft in service at that time was reported to be 2581.
Of these more than 560 were MBR-2s.

file:///C|/public_html/site/HISTORY/volume4/431/Sovi...20Black%20Sea%20Fleet%20orbat%2022%20June%201941.htm (4 of 4)2/25/2006 3:42:59 PM