"Aurora" laid her first mine barrage in the morning of 30 June, off Sulina, during the Soviet invasion of Bessarabia . She was commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Stan Baicu. A second barrage was laid during the night of 10–11 January 1941. She laid a third barrage in the area on 27–28 June 1941. Between 16 and 19 June 1941, she and two other Romanian minelayers, "Amiral Murgescu" and "Regele Carol I" (converted merchant ship), laid a barrage of 1,000 mines between Cape Midia and Tuzla, to protect the main Romanian port of Constanța. The mines laid off Constanța would later sink a Soviet destroyer leader during the 26 June Soviet raid on the port. "Aurora" herself was sunk on 15 July at Sulina during "Operation München" by Soviet aircraft.