Patrol moved repeatedly between active and reserve assignments before starting the war as a destroyer-flotilla leader at Hartlepool. Some reserve periods lasted only weeks before recall, as the Navy kept the cruiser available for mobilization while replacing her battery with four-inch guns. She shared Hartlepool with HMS Forward, four destroyers, and submarine HMS C9. On 16 December 1914, low water inside the harbour and heavy swell outside kept the cruisers and submarine from joining the morning patrol. The German force of Seydlitz, Moltke, and Blücher drove off the outgunned destroyers and bombarded the coastal batteries and harbour. Patrol tried to sortie, took two 8.3-inch hits, and suffered four dead and seven wounded. Captain Alan Bruce beached her, after which she reached Middlesbrough for repair, returned to service in 1915, and survived the war.
Chapter · 27:43-42:27
HMS Patrol at the Hartlepool raid
Pathfinder's sister Patrol survived the war after taking two heavy-shell hits during an attempted sortie against the German bombardment of Hartlepool in December 1914.