After the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941, Gromky covered an amphibious landing along the Arctic coast and laid several minefields.

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).

[9] During the Winter War, her only action was to help to cover the laying of a minefield off Petsamo with her sister ship Grozny on 2–3 January 1940.

Together with her sisters Stremitelny and Gremyashchy, Gromky covered the landing of troops on the western side of the mouth of the Zapadnaya Litsa River on 14 July during Operation Platinum Fox, the German attempt to capture Murmansk.

On 10–15 September, Gromky and her sisters in the 1st Destroyer Division (Gremyashchy, Sokrushitelny and Grozny) laid a pair of minefields off the Rybachy Peninsula using British mines delivered by the minelayer HMS Adventure.

From 20 to 29 October, Gromky bombarded German positions near the Zapadnaya Litsa River with a total of 1,251 shells from her 130 mm guns.

On 14 November, Gromky and Gremyashchy rendezvoused with a British light cruiser and a pair of destroyers to bombarded German-occupied Vardø, Norway, and then met up with Convoy PQ 3 to escort it to Arkhangelsk.

She returned to the Litsa on 30 December and fired 100 rounds at German positions, before starting a refit on 2 January 1942 that lasted until 2 February.

[11] After refitting in January 1942, Grozny, together with Gromky, escorted the light cruiser HMS Nigeria to rendezvous with Convoy PQ 11 on 20 February, but the destroyers were forced to return to port because of a strong storm.

Gromky helped to escort Convoy QP 8 on 1–4 March, but ran out of fuel the following day as she was headed for port in heavy weather that washed four crewmen overboard.

At the beginning of May, the ship provided naval gunfire support to Soviet troops, firing a total of 446 shells on 1 and 3 May.

While returning from one such mission during a Force 8 storm on 6 May, cracks developed on the deck and sides of her bow and the ship was only able to make a speed of 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) in the heavy weather.

Together with the destroyer leader Baku and Grozny, Gromky unsuccessfully attempted to intercept German supply ships along the coast of Norway on 27–28 and 30–31 March.

She helped to escort five Allied cargo ships from Murmansk to Arkhangelsk on 17–18 May before beginning repairs on 18 June that lasted until 10 September.

Together with Gremyashchy and the minesweeper HMS Britomart, Gromky escorted a pair of Allied cargo ships from Murmansk to Arkhangelsk on 29 September–2 October.

While escorting a Soviet convoy on 12 October, the transport SS Maria Raskova's steering gear failed in a storm and Gremyashchy took her in tow.