Together with several other destroyers, Baku left the Soviet Far East in July 1942 and arrived off Murmansk three months later where she began escorting convoys, mostly in the White and Barents Seas.

Baku spent most of the rest of the war on convoy escort duties, although she did bombard several German-occupied towns during the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive of October 1944.

198 (Marti South) in Nikolayev on 5 January 1935 as yard number 267,[8] railed to the station of Pokrovka near Khabarovsk, and shipped by barge down the Amur to the new Shipyard No.

Launched and renamed Ordzhonikidze on 25 July 1938 in honor of the Soviet politician, the still-incomplete destroyer leader was ordered towed to Vladivostok for completion at Shipyard No.

[9][7] After Operation Barbarossa began in June 1941, Baku, commanded by Kapitan 3 ranga (Captain 3rd Rank) Boris Belyayev [ru] from 1940, laid minefields and escorted transports, receiving a LFTI degaussing system in early October.

The expedition was accompanied by three icebreakers, three oil tankers, and two transports for material supplies, and was prepared in great secrecy, using the pretense of a relocation to Kamchatka.

[5] Due to overloading and the changes made, the seaworthiness of Baku was found to have been reduced during a trial run in the Vostok Bay, but the ship was still considered ready for the voyage.

Baku and the remaining destroyer left the latter behind and entered Ambarchik Bay on 14 September, where ice forced them to slow to an average of 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph).

They stopped at Tiksi on 17 September for a day to replenish supplies and conduct minor repairs, with Baku taking Razyaryonny in tow due to a bent propeller on the latter.

It met ships from the Northern Fleet in the Yugorsky Shar Strait on the next day, and the expedition, whose destroyer Razumny had by now caught up, with four icebreakers and 22 transports, entered Kola Bay at Vaenga on 14 October; Belyayev was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class, for his leadership.

[11] At Vaenga, Baku was docked for two weeks to remove the hull-strengthening beams and plating, replace the ice-strengthened propellers which had proven detrimental to travel, restore the degaussing coils, fit anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weapons, and receive a camouflage paint scheme.

[11] The following month, Baku and the destroyer Sokrushitelny escorted Convoy QP 15 from Arkhangelsk to the Barents Sea from 17 to 20 November when they encountered a severe storm.

The high waves and strong winds caused Sokrushitelny to break in half, while Baku was severely damaged when multiple compartments were flooded and water put two boilers out of action, creating a list 40 degrees to port.

The latter was ordered to assist Sokrushitelny but could not find her in the storm, and running low on fuel returned to the base for repairs on 22 November; these lasted until 15 January 1943.

[12][13] In response to a radio intelligence report of a German convoy of two transports with a destroyer and two smaller escorts steaming east from Tromsø, Baku and Razumny made a night sortie on 20 January.

The German vessels returned fire without damaging Baku, and the engagement ended after seven minutes when visibility deteriorated, allowing the Soviet ships to retreat behind a smokescreen laid by Razumny.

[12] The engagement was claimed as a victory in Soviet propaganda, though Northern Fleet commander-in-chief Vitse-admiral (Vice Admiral) Arseny Golovko concluded that the "destroyers should have been more aggressive.

[12] On 27–28 March, Baku and the destroyers Gromky and Grozny sortied off the Arctic coast of Norway in unsuccessful searches for German shipping under Golovko's command.

From 6 to 8 December she participated in an anti-submarine operation under the flag of squadron commander Kontr-admiral (Rear Admiral) Vitaly Fokin together with the destroyers Gremyashchiy, Razumny, Derzky, Zhivuchny, and Doblestny to prevent German submarines from attacking westbound Convoy RA 62 along with other Allied escorts.

The ship was laid up during the winter months, and portrayed the title Northern Fleet destroyer in the 1947 war film Story of the "Furious" (Povest o 'Neistovom').