"Gangut" was built by the Admiralty Works in Saint Petersburg. Her keel was laid down on 16 June 1909 and she was launched on 22 September 1911. At the end of October 1914, she collided with her sister "Poltava" which delayed her trials, scheduled for 9 November 1914, to late December 1914. She entered service on 11 January 1915 when she reached Helsinki and was assigned to the First Battleship Brigade of the Baltic Fleet. "Gangut" and her sister provided distant cover for minelaying operations south of Liepāja on 27 August, the furthest that any Russian dreadnought ventured out of the Gulf of Finland during World War I. She ran aground on 10 September, but suffered only minor damage. A minor mutiny broke out on 1 November when the executive officer refused to feed the crew the traditional meal of meat and macaroni after coaling. The return of the captain and the issue of a dinner of tinned meat restored order on the ship. On 10–11 November and 6 December "Gangut" and her sister again provided distant cover for minelaying operations. She saw no action of any kind during 1916. Her crew joined the general mutiny of the Baltic Fleet on 16 March 1917, after the idle sailors received word of the February Revolution in Saint Petersburg. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk required the Soviets to evacuate their base at Helsinki in March 1918 or have them interned by newly independent Finland even though the Gulf of Finland was still frozen over. "Gangut" and her sisters led the first group of ships on 12 March and reached Kronstadt five days later in what became known as the 'Ice Voyage'.