Commerce warfare begins before the main fleet battle

The crisis alert was already pulling British heavy cruisers together and warning forces from Australia, Singapore, and the Indian Ocean. Admiral Noble first summoned his local heavy cruisers and sent Birmingham toward Tsingtao. He then used wartime command authority to alert the Fourth Cruiser Squadron in the Indian Ocean, which began moving toward Singapore before Birmingham had even reached the crisis. Similar signals went to commands across the region. That pre-existing mobilisation makes the historical moment unusually dangerous rather than a routine diplomatic incident.