The Frunze was a Schastlivy-class destroyer, a sub class of Novik-class destroyers built for Imperial Russian Navy in 1910s. Originally she was named Bystry and renamed to Frunze in 1925. She was laid down on 16th October 1913 and comissioned on 18th April 1915. During the WWI she shelled Turkish and Romanian coast aswell as performing minelaying. On 18th October she sunk Turkish destroyer Hamidabad and two steamboats and damaged three minesweepers. In May 1918, Frunze was captured by advancing German forces while undergoing repairs at Sevastopol. Between 1923 and 1927, she underwent repairs and refit during which she recieved fourth 102 mm cannon and 76 mm Lender AA gun aswell as several machine guns. Her five twin 457 mm torpedo launchers were removed and exchanged for three triple 457 mm launchers. As result of refit her displacement increased to 1540 tons and her crew complement raised to 133 men. Between 1936 and 1940 she underwent another refit and repairs in Sevastopol during which her anti-aircraft weaponry was strenghtened by a single 76 mm gun, two 45 mm 21-K cannons and two DShK machine guns. On 22nd August 1941, Frunze, destroyer Dzerzhinsky and light cruiser Krasny Krym arrived to Odessa in order to support defenders of the city with naval gunfire. On 21st September 1941 Frunze left Sevastopol, bound for Odessa again when she came under attack from nine Ju-87 dive bombers. She was hit by five bombs and sunk at depth of 6m. 50 crewmen lost their lives during the attack.

Frunze was introduced during Update 1.79 "Project X" when the Soviet fleet was implemented into the game.

As a World War I Imperial Russian destroyer with some slight Soviet modernisation, the Frunze's performance leaves much to be desired. The ship suffers from a certain legacy design that limits her effectiveness, especially her poor protection, though this is offset by decent accuracy and great agility. Due to this, the Frunze primarily excels at providing fire support, capable of dealing significant damage to the enemy fleet if left unchecked.