After her completion Petr Veliky was assigned to the Gunnery Training Detachment through 1917. A number of sources report that she was renamed by the Soviets as Respublikanets (Republican) or as Barrikada (Barricade), but this is not confirmed by the post-Cold War sources used by McLaughlin. That year she was assigned as a depot ship for submarines at Kronstadt and later Helsinki.
After completion, Petr Veliky was assigned to the Gunnery Training Detachment until 1917. Some sources suggest that she was renamed by the Soviets to either Respublikanets (Republican) or Barrikada (Barricade), but McLaughlin's post-Cold War sources do not confirm this. That year, she served as a depot ship for submarines at Kronstadt and later Helsinki.