From the first days after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the brigade participated in the operations of the Black Sea Fleet. Gorshkov was promoted to counter admiral on 16 September. During the Siege of Odessa Gorshkov led a landing in the area of Grigorievka before taking command of the Azov Flotilla in October. In late December and early January 1942 he commanded the landings on the north coast of the Kerch Peninsula. During August Gorshkov commanded 150 warships of the flotilla in a breakout from the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea after the withdraw of Soviet troops to Novorossiysk. After the resulting disbandment of the flotilla, he became deputy commander of naval forces and a member of the military council of the Novorossiysk Defense District. Gorshkov temporarily commanded the troops of the 47th Army defending the region in November during the Battle of the Caucasus.