The converted training ships returned to service at the outbreak of the First World War as the Fifth Scouting Group. The formation gave the German Navy reserve hulls it could mobilize after its newer scouts, but these ships were poor modern reconnaissance cruisers. Their maximum speed of roughly 19.5 knots meant HMS Dreadnought could potentially catch them. A scout unable to control its distance from a battleship had lost one of the type's essential protections. A ship on the mobilization list could still be unfit for a frontline mission.
Notable Point · 1:11-2:22
A fifth scouting group made from obsolete training cruisers
The class's wartime mobilization as the Fifth Scouting Group separates administrative availability from real tactical suitability.