Kaliakria was designed to carry enough fuel oil to give her a range of 1,450 nautical miles (2,690 km; 1,670 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph).

[2] Dzerzhinsky transported a Soviet delegation headed by Deputy People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs Lev Karakhan to Istanbul for negotiations with the Turkish government on 11 December 1929.

[4][5] Dzerzhinsky was part of the 1st Destroyer Division of the fleet at Batumi along with Frunze by 22 June 1941, when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union.

[6] With her sisters, she was sent to support the defenders during the Siege of Odessa due to a fleet prohibition on using large ships after the Raid on Constanța that was in effect until August, forcing the elderly Noviks to be employed.

Early on 9 September, she entered Odessa to replenish her supplies of fuel and potable water, but fragments from near misses of artillery shells damaged a gun and her torpedo tubes.

She spent the rest of the day maneuvering off the Vorontsov Lighthouse and departed that night, escorting a transport evacuating the wounded together with a minesweeper.

Dzerzhinsky and Frunze were assigned as part of a detachment to support the operation, and on 16 September both destroyers attempted to carry out a rehearsal at the Chersonese Lighthouse, but failed due to heavy seas.

Dzerzhinsky and the destroyer Boyky escorted the battleship Parizhskaya Kommuna on 19 April while the latter tested her main armament and maneuverability following repairs.

[12] Together with the cruiser Krasny Krym and her sister Nezamozhnik, Dzerzhinsky loaded reinforcements for Sevastopol at Novorossiysk on 12 May and departed for another run to the besieged port.

They approached the entrance to Sevastopol channel in fog on the night of 13–14 May, and remained there to await improved visibility conditions as they had to pass through a Soviet minefield to enter the port.