Completed in 1938, she was assigned to the Baltic Fleet and played a minor role in the 1939–1940 Winter War when the Soviet Union invaded Finland.

After taking off the survivors, the Soviets failed to sink Gnevny with gunfire before they withdrew and the abandoned wreck drifted until she was sunk by German bombers three days later.

They licensed the plans for the Folgore class and, in modifying it for their purposes, made a marginally stable design top heavy.

Variations in fuel oil capacity meant that the range of the Gnevnys varied between 1,670 to 3,145 nautical miles (3,093 to 5,825 km; 1,922 to 3,619 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).

On 23 June 1941, a day after Operation Barbarossa began, Gnevny was tasked with covering minelaying operations at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland along with the rest of the 1st Division of the Baltic Fleet's Light Forces Detachment – the light cruiser Maxim Gorky and her sisters Gordy and Steregushchy.

She ran into a German minefield 16 to 18 nautical miles (30 to 33 km; 18 to 21 mi) northwest of Tahkuna Lighthouse and had her bow blown off by a mine,[8] killing 20 men and wounding 23 others.