In 1911, as a result of tensions with Turkey, the Russian State Duma approved a shipbuilding programme aimed at strengthening the Black Sea Fleet, with three battleships, nine destroyers and six submarines to be built by 1915.

[8] They were soon pressed into action, and on the evening of 5 November, Derzky and sister ships Bespokoiny, Gnevny and Pronzitelny laid mines to the north west of the entrance to the Bosphorus.

[9][10] Derzky continued to carry out minelaying operations, as well as attacks against Turkish coastal shipping and shore bombardment duties.

[7][11] On 23–24 December 1914, Derzki, Bespokoiny, Gnevny and Pronzitelny were supporting operations by the Black Sea Fleet to lay mines and block the port of Zonguldak with blockships.

[15][16][18] On 25 April, during another sortie along the Anatolian coast, Derzki suffered from salt water contamination of her boilers, and was sent back to Sevastopol for repairs.

On 10 December, Derzki, Bespokoiny and Gnevny caught two Turkish gunboats, Taşköprü and Yozgat, which had been sent to salvage material from the wreck of UC-13, and sank them in the Battle of Kirpen Island.

[26] On 14 April, Derzki, Bespokoiny and Pronzitelny operated in support of the Russian offensive against Trabzon, claiming 58 sailing ships carrying supplies to the Turkish army sunk.

Eventually, Breslau drew away from the Russian force, and the five destroyers were ordered to continue to follow the German ship, and deliver a torpedo attack under cover of darkness.

[36][7][11] Derzky and Pospeshny carried out a sortie along the coast of eastern Anatolia on 28–29 January 1917, sinking 13 sailing boats and capturing 7 more.

[37][g] When the October Revolution reached the Black Sea Fleet, Derzki's crew sided with the Bolsheviks,[7][11] and in November 1917, Derzki was part of a force sent to the Don to assist sailors who were fighting anti-Bolshevik Cossack troops led by General Alexey Kaledin, but the ships arrived too late to be of assistance and returned to Sevastopol in early December.

In March 1918, Derzky went to the assistance of Red Guards at Sukhumi, who were fighting Georgian troops, shelling the outskirts of the city.

[39][40] While an Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers was signed in December 1917, Germans forces advanced deep into Ukraine following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, and on 12 May 1918, Derzki left Sevastopol for Novorossiysk with much of the Black Sea Fleet.

[41][7][11] In June 1918, Germany threatened to attack Novorossiysk if the Black Sea Fleet did not return to Sevastopol where it would be under German control.

[42] On 1 October 1918, Germany seized control of Derzky and a number of other warships, with the intention of commissioning them into the German Navy, but the end of the war brought a halt to these plans.

[45] On 14 November 1920, Derzky left Sevastopol as part of the final Evacuation of the Crimea, passing via Istanbul to Bizerte where the ship was interned by the French on 29 December 1920.