page_title: Naval history of World War II
section_title: Romania
hierarchical_section_title: Naval history of World War II / Main navies / Romania
caption_attribution_description: English: Side view of the Romanian minelayer Amiral Murgescu
context_page_description: In the beginning of World War II the Royal Navy was the strongest navy in the world, with the largest number of warships built and with naval bases across the globe. Totalling over 15 battleships and battlecruisers, 7 aircraft carriers, 66 cruisers, 164 destroyers and 66 submarines. With a massive merchant navy, about a third of the world total, it also dominated shipping. In the course of the war the United States Navy grew tremendously as the United States was faced with a two-front war on the seas. By the end of World War II the U.S Navy was larger than any other navy in the world.
context_section_description: The Romanian Navy was the largest Axis naval force during the naval war in the Black Sea. When the country joined the war in mid-1941, its main force comprised 5 destroyers (two Regele Ferdinand-class and two Mărăști-class plus the sea-going torpedo boat Sborul), 1 submarine (Delfinul), 1 minelaying frigate (Amiral Murgescu), five sea-going monitors (four Mihail Kogălniceanu-class and one Sava-class), three coastguard cruisers (all Bistrița-class), six escort corvettes (four of the French-built Sublocotenent Ghiculescu-class plus the converted torpedo boats Năluca and Smeul). Two more submarines, Marsuinul and Rechinul, were launched a short while prior to Romania's entry into the war, but they were commissioned only in May 1943. Also acquired in 1943 were five Italian CB-class midget submarines. By May 1944, two Romanian motor torpedo boats (Viscolul and Vedenia) were fitted for escort service.
  The Romanian Navy was the only navy to fight for over three years without losing a single unit of its main force of destroyers and submarines. At the same time, it caused the sinking of one destroyer and over a dozen submarines, all Soviet.
caption: NMS Amiral Murgescu, the most effective Romanian Navy warship of the Second World War[78]
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