Prior to the outbreak of World War II she also served as a school ship and could take on board up to 60 additional students and NCOs.

On 1 September 1939, with six minesweepers, Gryf left the naval base at Gdynia for the Operation Rurka, a failed attempt to lay a minefield at the entrances to the Gdańsk Bay.

[1] After taking aboard naval mines from a floating depot, the flotilla headed for Hel Peninsula, assisted by ORP Wicher and two gunboats.

Although the damages were minor, the ship lost 22 sailors, including its captain Lt Cmdr Stefan Kwiatkowski[1] in what became known as the Battle of the Gdańsk Bay.

In November 1939, after the end of the invasion hostilities, the Germans raised the wreck and hauled it to a beach near Jastarnia, where it was used as an artillery practice target.