Oh yeah, it was indeed a major naval battle. But there is a difference in the way things happen in lakes and inland seas. In a way, it might even be tougher and require a better naval officer. One, you are almost always in range of some sort of immediate land support. Two, there is nowhere to run or get fancy. It’s like two sumo wrestlers inside a ring, or two MMA fighters inside a cage.
You can’t vanish into the vast Atlantic or Pacific.
Black Sea is pretty much wicked when it comes to weather. In certain sense more so than the Atlantic. Up to this day you have more chances to safely sail between US and the Carribean than between Russia and Turkey.