Buinyi's gun positions limited its destroyer role

The Buinyi class theoretically carried five 47 mm guns, yet their positions were difficult to crew at operating speed and likely to become very wet. Moving torpedoes around the deck to reload the launchers would make those guns still harder to use during tactical maneuvering. The aft gun was probably the most usable. This was a well-armed torpedo boat whose layout left it poorly suited to destroyer duties. The class fought the Russo-Japanese War as torpedo boats and received the destroyer classification in 1907. Its gun armament was only slightly stronger than Sokol's despite the decade between them, while destroyers elsewhere had grown heavier and the small Hotchkiss guns were becoming weak.