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 from 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).

Four days later, the destroyer fired her first shots of the war when her anti-aircraft gunners defended the ship against a German air raid on the Tallinn roadstead.

Strashny escaped mostly unscathed from an air raid off Ruhnu on the next day, although concussion from near misses knocked out her main compass; her captain claimed her gunners shot down a pair of Junkers Ju 88 bombers.

Bomb hits during a 15 July raid killed seven crew members and wounded 22, although the destroyer's anti-aircraft gunners claimed a Ju 88 downed.

Bomb splinters started a fire in a shell magazine, which was extinguished, and holed her hull in multiple places, puncturing several oil tanks and knocking out power for her radio and electric navigation devices.

[10] Along with the old destroyer Engels and an oil tanker, Strashny made for Tallinn for repairs, but early on 16 July near Cape Pakri she struck a mine that turned her forecastle into a mass of twisted metal and nearly severed the bow section, in addition to flooding forward compartments and knocking out power and steering.

[10] Despite the failure of a pump and burst fire mains, her crew managed to keep the ship afloat, and off Cape Surop she was taken under tow by a tugboat.

Decreasing rations for the shipyard workers meant that they could no longer work and resulted in the completion of the repairs by her own crew, allowing Strashny to return to the fleet on 15 April 1942.

To keep them in practice, her gunners were temporarily seconded to her sister Strogy on the Neva River, aboard which they participated in twelve bombardments in support of ground troops, expending 168 main-gun shells.

The destroyer moved from the Peter Canal to Kabotazhna Havan on 1 July, where her gunners continued training, expending 3,600 rounds from her 45 mm guns during the summer.

Work on the reinforcement of the destroyer's hull began in November, and for the January Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive Strashny and Silny joined the fleet's 1st Shock Artillery Group.