After having attended the Naval Cadet School in 1902, Peter Novopashenny served as a naval officer on several Russian warships, firstly on the monitor Admiral Greig (Russian: Адмирал Грейг) in 1903 and a year later on the battleship Sevastopol. In the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), he participated in the battle with the Japanese fleet in part. He fell into Japanese captivity, from which he was dismissed, however, after a short time. Thereafter he served on other ships as the gunboat Sivuch . In 1910 he graduated from the Nikolaev Naval Academy in St. Petersburg. Later, from 1913 to 1915, he commanded the icebreaker Vaygach () during the Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition.The Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition 1910–1915
