The order was placed with Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée at Le Havre, France based on the design of the French Friant-class cruiser.

After successful completion of testing, she was sent directly to Lisbon to represent Russia at the 400th anniversary celebrations of the opening of a sea route to India by Vasco de Gama, where she hosted the Portuguese royal family.

After returning via Le Harve for final repairs, she went to Kiel, where she was visited by officers from the Imperial German Navy before continuing on to her home port of Kronstadt on 23 June 1898.

At the start of the battle, the squadron fell back to protect the support vessels; however at around 1500 hours, Svetlana was hit severely in the bow, putting her electrical system out of action.

That evening, Svetlana initially joined the Oleg and Aurora under the overall command of Vice Admiral Oskar Enkvist in an attempt to evade the Japanese fleet and to flee to Manila.

The pursuing Japanese caught up at daybreak close to the Korean coast, and Bystry was run aground, where her 82 crewmen (including 10 men rescued from Oslyabya) were captured.