The Leytenant Shestakov class was developed to meet a requirement for larger destroyers for the Black Sea Fleet based on experience of the Russo-Japanese War.

Four coal-fired Normand boilers were fitted, feeding two triple expansion steam engines rated at 6,500 ihp (4,800 kW), which gave a design speed of 25 kn (29 mph; 46 km/h).

[3][7] From January to April 1916, Leytenant Zatsarenny took part in the Trebizond Campaign, a Russian land and amphibious offensive that resulted in the capture of the Turkish cite of Trabzon.

[3][6] On 2 November (NS) (20 October (OS)) that year, Leytenant Zatsarenny, along with sister ship Kapitan Saken and the destroyer Strogi, carried out a raid against Turkish coastal craft hidden at the mouth of the Terme River, with 20 Turkish barges and sailing craft being captured or destroyed.

[8] Leytenant Zatsarenny was sunk on 17 June 1917 (OS) (30 June NS), when she ran onto a German naval mine that had been laid only days before by the Ottoman Navy light cruiser Midilli (formerly the Imperial German Navy′s SMS Breslau).