In 1911, the Imperial Russian Navy conducted a design competition for destroyers to serve with the Black Sea Fleet based on the successful design of the . The Navy selected the design submitted by the
Putilov Shipyard, but only awarded a contract for one ship to Putilov. Contracts for two ships were given to
St. Petersburg Metal Works and
Nevsky Shipyard. All three of these shipyards were in
Saint Petersburg and would have to assemble their ships on the
Black Sea. The Navy awarded four destroyers to
OSNiV in
Mykolaiv,
Ukraine, based on a promise of early delivery. It also allowed the company to alter the design as necessary.
Gnevny was one of the OSNiV-designed ships. They
normally displaced and at
full load. They measured
long overall with a
beam of , and a
draft of . The main armament of the
Dzerky-class ships did not vary between the two designs. It consisted of three single
four-inch (102 mm) Pattern 1911 Obukhov guns and ten
torpedo tubes in five twin mounts. One of these guns was mounted on the
forecastle and a
superfiring pair on the
stern, aft of the torpedo tubes. All of the ships were initially fitted with two
machine guns, with most ships receiving another pair of guns during the war. A pair of QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss|
anti-aircraft (AA) guns were also added during the war. The ships could carry 80 M1912
naval mines. They were also fitted with a
Barr and Stroud rangefinder and two searchlights. ==Construction and career==