Assigned to the Black Sea Fleet, she covered the evacuation of the Danube Flotilla to Odessa a few weeks after the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June.

During the Sieges of Odessa and Sevastopol in 1941–1942, the ship ferried reinforcements and supplies into those cities, evacuated wounded and refugees and bombarded Axis troop positions.

The crew complement of the Storozhevoy class numbered 207 in peacetime, but this increased to 271 in wartime, as more personnel were needed to operate additional equipment.

Variations in fuel oil capacity meant that the range of the Project 7Us varied between 1,380 to 2,700 nautical miles (2,560 to 5,000 km; 1,590 to 3,110 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph), that upper figure demonstrated by Storozhevoy.

The ship was renamed Smyshlyony on 25 September 1940 and was accepted by the navy on 10 November, but the Soviet naval jack was not raised aboard her until 12 April 1941, after the completion of additional work.

[10][11] In the first weeks of the war, the Black Sea Fleet was tasked with disrupting Axis supply lines by bombarding Constanța and its oil tanks.

When the other ships were returning, Smyshlyony rendezvoused with Voroshilov on the next morning and helped to escort the damaged Kharkov back to Sevastopol,[13] putting up anti-aircraft fire against German aircraft.

[8] In the first half of July, Smyshlyony escorted tankers and other merchant ships to Batumi before returning to Sevastopol for the installation of an LFTI degaussing system.

Returning to Odessa, Smyshlyony continued to provide fire support, and, during the evacuation of the port in mid-October, she laid a minefield off Ilyichevka in conjunction with the destroyer Bodry on 14 October.

[15] Smyshlyony escorted two cargo ships, carrying troops and supplies, from Novorossiysk to Sevastopol beginning on the night of 31 December–1 January 1942 together with the light cruiser Molotov and Tashkent.

On 6 January, the ship attempted to land a reinforcing naval infantry battalion at Eupatoria during the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula, but was driven off by heavy German fire and bad weather, returning to Sevastopol.

[17] Returning to combat, Smyshlyony bombarded a German battery near Feodosia and reported its silencing on the night of 20–21 February, while Molotov and Soobrazitelny fired at other targets.

She struck a mine that flooded two boiler rooms and knocked out her power, but jury-rigged repairs allowed her to proceed homewards at a speed of eight knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph), together with Tashkent and Kharkov.