Privateer on shipping of a nation at war with France, on behalf of the French Crown. Seized vessels and cargo were sold at auction, with the corsair captain entitled to a portion of the proceeds. Although not French Navy personnel, corsairs were considered legitimate combatants in France (and allied nations), provided the commanding officer of the vessel was in possession of a valid Letter of Marque (fr. "Lettre de Marque" or "Lettre de Course"), and the officers and crew conducted themselves according to contemporary admiralty law. By acting on behalf of the French Crown, if captured by the enemy, they could
Soviet Navy surface raids on Western Black Sea shipping, this time without further minelaying operations: three main raids were attempted but where hampered by effective Axis intercept stations that alerted most of the merchants sailing. At the same time, destroyers "Boikyi" and "Bezposhchadnyi" claimed to have intercepted and destroyed a small convoy with torpedoes and gunfire: post-war discoveries found they actually shelled a group of rocks covered by fog. Overhall, Soviet surface actions failed to inflict significant damages to the Axis shipping lines: while minelaying operations inflicted some losses in 1941, they were not repeated the following year and three repetitive raids failed to intercept Axis shipping. Apart