Nerpa was credited with sinking 24 ships during the conflict for a total of 2,443 gross register tons (GRT), making it the fourth most successful Russian submarine in the Black Sea.

During the Russian Civil War the city was occupied over time by several forces, including Germany, the Western Allies, and the White Army, before being taken by the Bolsheviks and becoming part of the Soviet Union.

The 1911 naval program approved by the State Duma included the order of six submarines for the Black Sea Fleet, which ended up being three Morzh-class boats and three Narval class.

An additional problem was that twin 1,140 horsepower (850 kW) diesel engines to power all three Morzh-class boats had been ordered from Germany, but were not delivered by the time World War I broke out.

[3][8] The construction of all three submarines began on 25 June 1911 and took place at the Nikolayev department of the Baltic Yard, which was created specifically to build the Morzh class.

[9] Nerpa was laid down and launched in August 1913, and received its engines in November 1914, with the sea trials taking place until the end of the following month.

[11] But by April, the Russian focus changed to stopping coal shipments along the Turkish coast from the area of Zonguldak to Constantinople, and the submarines, working with destroyers, implemented a partial blockade of the Bosporus.

[12] On 5 September 1915 the submarine Nerpa, commanded by V. V. Vilken, worked together with the destroyers Bystry and Pronzitelny to attack an Ottoman merchant ship convoy on its way to Constantinople from Zonguldak.

After spotting the submarine and the destroyers, the escorts abandoned the convoy and sped toward the Bosporus, while also sending a message to the battlecruiser Goeben for assistance.

[17] After the February Revolution in 1917, the Russian Provisional Government continued operations in the Black Sea, including the attacks on Ottoman coal shipping.

[14] Nerpa was on patrol in that area again as of 26 June 1917, when the cruiser Breslau was returning to port after laying mines near the entrance of the Danube and was being pursued by several Russian warships.

[21][22] Politruk was initially manned by crewmen that arrived from the Caspian Sea, where they had worked on several older submarines that made up a reserve force until they were scrapped circa 1922.