This force was augmented after 1937 when Bulgaria entered into a military assistance agreement with Germany, which eventually yielded five motor torpedo boats of the 1939 Lurssen design. These vessels displaced 57.6 tons at full load and were armed with two torpedo tubes and a 20 mm antiaircraft gun. Their engines could produce a maximum speed of 37.1 knots. On Bulgaria's entry into World War II in March 1941, Germany also supplied three formerly Dutch motor torpedo boats.
The Bulgarian navy saw little action in World War II. Its principal action came in October 1941, when it and the Romanian navy mined Bulgarian coastal waters. Up until the time Bulgaria was driven from the war and occupied by the Soviet army in September 1944, the navy's chief duties were escorting coastal vessels in the Black Sea and patrolling the Danube River. Eric W. Osborne
Chesneau, Roger, ed. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1980.; Tarnstrom, Ronald L. Handbooks of Armed Forces: Balkans, Part II. Lindsborg, KS: Trogen Publications, 1984.
Eric W. Osborne