The two sister ships deployed in the Baltic Sea, and , bombarded Finnish coast defense positions during the Winter War of 1939–1940. During Operation Barbarossa they provided fire support during the German siege of Tallinn and escorted the convoys when it was evacuated at the end of August 1941. Again they provided fire support during the Siege of Leningrad as they were blockaded in Leningrad and Kronstadt by Axis minefields. "Minsk" was sunk by German air attack in September 1941, but was later raised and recommissioned. Neither ship did anything notable after the siege was lifted in January 1944. "Moskva" had a very short career in the Black Sea Fleet as she was sunk on 26 June 1941. "Kharkov" participated in most of the battles on the Black Sea coast, but was sunk by Stukas in October 1943 as she returned from a bombardment mission. began the war in the Pacific, but was transferred to the Soviet Northern Fleet via the Northern Sea Route between 15 July and 14 October 1942, where she spent the rest of the war escorting Arctic convoys and attempting to intercept German convoys to their ports on the Arctic Ocean. "Tblisi" had little to do until after the Soviet invasion of Manchuria when she transported naval infantry.