The port in which the 7th flottila starts is current day Kaliningrad, (not sure what that piece of country is in the link below, seems to be Russia):
http://maps.google.nl/?ie=UTF8&ll=54...9,7.844238&z=7
In the game it's on the eastern border of Poland with Russia, the bay is also east of Gdansk (to help you locate it on the map). To be honest, I have no idea what nationality those ships were. They were supposed to represent training target ships so it wouldn't matter. But probably neutral at the time. As I think I received negative renown. Oh well, there's a war around the corner for plenty more.
Why the 1st or 2nd do not receive a radiomessage with further orders I do not know. Maybe best to ask someone of the GWX crew.