[a] The destroyer was built by the Russo-Baltic Yard at Reval (now Tallinn in Estonia), launching on 5 January 1915 and completing in October 1916.

[6] Gavriil was laid down on 8 December 1913 (24 November 1913 Old Style),[7] at the Russo-Baltic Works Reval shipyard, was launched on 5 January 1915,[3] and completed on 7 October 1916.

Gavriil, which was anchored outside the entrance to Kronstadt harbour, was targeted by CMB24, but the British boat's torpedo ran too deep and passed underneath the Russian destroyer.

On leaving the harbour, CMB62 launched its torpedoes at Gavriil, but they too ran too deep and missed, and Gavrill's gunfire sank CMB62.

[c][15] On the morning of 21 October 1919, Gavriil and the destroyers Azard, Konstantin and Svoboda, set out from Kronstadt to lay a minefield in Koporye Bay to deter British ships supporting Estonian troops advancing on Petrograd, but ran into a British minefield.

Konstantin and Svoboda were sunk by mines within minutes, with only Azard, at the rear of the formation, escaping unharmed.

Only 25 of the crew of the three sunken destroyers were rescued, with nineteen of those sailors from Gavriil who had escaped by boat,[16] with 285 killed.