Completed in 1938, the ship was assigned to the Baltic Fleet and played a minor role in the 1939–1940 Winter War against Finland.

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

The ship was attacked and sunk by German dive bombers the following month in Polyarny with the loss of 111 crew and passengers.

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] When Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began on 22 June 1941, the ship was based in Polyarny.

Together with her sisters Gromky and Gremyashchy, Stremitelny 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.

[11] Six days later, she was attacked by Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bombers while docked in Polyarny and was struck by four bombs amidships.