In the spring of 1919, the Makhnovists occupied Berdyansk, where they began to form a navy from adapted civilian ships, on which weapons were installed.

In late April - early May 1919, several sailors received a three-inch (76-mm) cannon and appeared in front of the Berdyansk Revolutionary Committee with the initiative to install it on a boat that could be used to patrol the waters of the Azov Sea.

In the end, ignoring the opinion of the engineers, they independently mounted a cannon on the boat and began to go out to sea.

[3] On 21 May 1919, in connection with the appearance of the enemy fleet near Berdyansk, a telegram was sent to the headquarters of the 2nd Ukrainian Soviet Army from the headquarters of the 1st Insurgent Division with the signatures of the chief of division Nestor Makhno and senior assistant chief of staff B. Veretelnik.

[1] The flotilla commander was Kamchatny,[6] who was only waiting for Pavel Dybenko with his Crimean Red Army to knock out the White Guards from the Kerch Peninsula in order to withdraw the ships at the mouth of the Dnieper and try to deliver them to Berdyansk.