The gunboat was part of the Danube Flotilla during the Romanian War of Independence of 1877. During the war, she was incorporated by agreement in the Imperial Russian Navy as "Velikiy Knyaz Nikolay" (Grand Duke Nicholas) and employed, with a mostly Russian crew as a minelayer, laying mine barrages across the Danube in order to restrict the movement of Ottoman warships. At the end of the war in 1878, she was returned to the Romanian navy and reverted to "Fulgerul". After another period as a training ship up to 1882, she was declared militarily obsolete in 1886.