Launched in 1916, before going into service for Russia, the ship first served in the Royal Navy during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.

She served in the North Russia campaign, and was handed over to White Russian forces when the British withdrew in October 1919.

He led a convoy of five cargo ships on an experimental run through the Kara Sea to the mouths of the Ob and Yenisei Rivers.

[2] In 1942 she was part of a convoy sighted at the Mona Islands in the Kara Sea by a Kriegsmarine Arado Ar 196 during Operation Wunderland.

The heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer rushed to find her, but bad weather, fog, and ice saved Lenin.