Soviet Black Sea Fleet during the Battle of Stalingrad

The Soviet Black Sea Fleet during the Battle of Stalingrad conducted offensive operations along the Western coast of the Black Sea. Its submarines and surface warships aimed to disrupt Axis communications and supplies by sea.

Naval actions
On 1 October 1942, the Soviet M-class submarine M-118 attacked and sank the German transport ship Salzburg, which was carrying 2,000 Soviet prisoners of war. After attacking, the submarine was located by a German BV138C flying boat, and the Romanian gunboats Sublocotenent Ghiculescu and Stihi Eugen were sent to the scene. The two Romanian warships attacked the submarine with depth charges, sinking her with all hands.

On 10 or 11 October, the Romanian cargo ship Carpați was torpedoed and sunk near Sulina by Shch-216 of the Shchuka-class.

On 14 October, M-32 unsuccessfully attacked the Romanian Regele Ferdinand-class destroyer Regele Ferdinand near Cape Burnas, the submarine being subsequently depth charged and damaged by the Romanian torpedo boat Smeul.

On 21 October, M-35 torpedoed and heavily damaged the German tanker Le Progress near Crimea, the ship being subsequently scuttled.

On 14 November, L-23 of the Leninets-class attacked a convoy consisting of the Romanian destroyers Regele Ferdinand and Regina Maria and the German tanker Ossag near the Bosphorus. The submarine launched three torpedoes, which struck and damaged Ossag.

On 8 December, D-5 of the Dekarbist-class attacked and sank the Turkish sailing vessel Kociboglu near the Bosphorus.

On 26 December, L-6 unsuccessfully attacked a Romanian supply convoy, the convoy escorts in return damaging her lightly with depth charges.

Mine warfare
On 11 December, Shch-212 was sunk by a Romanian minefield near Snake Island, along with all of her crew of 44. In mid-December, M-31 was possibly sunk by one of the Romanian minefields near the island as well. The two mine barrages protecting the island were laid on 29–30 October and 5 November 1942 by the Romanian minelayers Amiral Murgescu and Dacia, together with the Romanian destroyers Regina Maria and Regele Ferdinand, the Romanian flotilla leader Mărăști, the Romanian gunboat Stihi and four German R-boats.

Up to five more Soviet submarines were sunk by Romanian mines while operating off the Western Black Sea coastline during the Battle of Stalingrad: M-33 and M-60 were sunk near Odessa on 24 August and 26 September respectively, Shch-208 and Shch-213 were sunk near Constanța on 26 August and 14 October respectively  and L-24 was sunk near Shabla on 15 December.

Surface operations
On 1 December 1942, the Soviet cruiser Voroshilov bombarded Snake Island together with the destroyers Soobrazitelny and Kharkov. The cruiser fired forty-six 180 mm and fifty-seven 100 mm shells, which struck the radio station, barracks and lighthouse on the island, but failed to inflict significant losses. Her shelling was cut short by Romanian mines, which significantly damaged her. However, she managed to return to Poti for repairs under her own power.

On 11–13 December, the Romanian torpedo boat Smeul (Captain Dumitru Mitescu) along with four German R-boats escorted the transport ships Tzar Ferdinand and Oituz along the Romanian coast. In the morning of 13 December, the convoy was attacked by the destroyer Soobrazitelny and four Fugas-class minesweepers. The exchange of fire lasted for two hours, until Smeul launched a smokescreen which enabled the four R-boats to simulate a torpedo attack, causing the Soviet warships to retreat. None of the Axis or Soviet warships were damaged.