The First World War forced Canada to rebuild Niobe's crew because many of her sailors had already been sent west to support other vessels. Crews from several ships were paid off and transferred east, and Niobe collected 107 sailors from the Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve. She then patrolled the Gulf of St. Lawrence with HMS Lancaster and escorted the Royal Canadian Regiment to Bermuda, although fresh defects prevented her from joining a larger troop convoy. Under Royal Navy administration, the cruiser began intercepting German shipping along the American coast. Niobe's superior speed, armour, and battery so overmatched the auxiliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich that its captain chose internment at Newport News rather than fight. The episode shows how even a worn protected cruiser could still defeat the merchant conversion it had originally been designed to hunt.
Chapter · 41:12-44:18
Niobe rebuilds a crew and corners Prinz Eitel Friedrich
Canada assembled sailors from western vessels and Newfoundland reserves before Niobe patrolled, escorted troops, and drove a German auxiliary cruiser into internment.