During the Second Balkan War, Romanian ground forces crossed the Danube and invaded Bulgaria. During the war, "Mihail Kogălniceanu" was part of the group of ships ferrying Romanian troops from Corabia to the Bulgarian shore. In response to the Romanian invasion, the Bulgarian Navy scuttled its four Danube gunboats to prevent them from being captured. The four gunboats were 400–600 ton vessels, with a top speed of 11 knots and armed with two-to-four 75 mm guns and two-to-four 47 mm guns. They were still present on the Bulgarian Navy list in August 1916.