He graduated from the Berlin Cadet Corps and served initially in the Semenov Regiment of the Imperial Guards.

He commanded a number of destroyers in the Baltic Fleet,[2] and was awarded the Order of St Anna, 3rd class in 1896.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Lieven was initially in command of the mine defenses of Port Arthur, followed by the gunboat Bobr.

During the Battle of the Yellow Sea, he was one of the few captains to break the Japanese blockade, and was interned in Saigon, French Indochina until the end of the war.

Lieven was active in efforts to reconstruct the Imperial Russian Navy, but died near Udine railway station in Italy while returning from a vacation in Venice while aboard a train for St Petersburg.