the defence of sevastopol was provided mainly by the black sea fleet and the separate coastal army under ivan yefimovich petrov (which had been shipped in from the siege of odessa). the black sea fleet sent 49,372 personnel to fight as infantry. most were not trained for ground combat, and the act was an ad hoc emergency measure. the naval brigades formed had four to six battalions of 4,000 men, allowing them to absorb significant losses. these forces were well armed, having a variety of artillery and mortar battalions. almost 20 percent of the coastal army were naval personnel. in the separate coastal army, the strongest divisions were the 95th, 109th, 172nd, and 388th rifle divisions. they each had around 7,000 soldiers, the rest of the red army units having around 5,000 personnel. some 5,000 reinforcements made it into sevastopol in may 1942. however, petrov's army lacked tanks and anti-aircraft guns. the garrison also lacked food supplies and mortar ammunition, which would severely sap soviet strength. poor communications between headquarters and the front lines were also an issue. petrov found it difficult to respond to axis attacks quickly.