"Nürnberg" was still assigned to the East Asia Squadron under Admiral Maximilian von Spee when war broke out. Initially based in Tsingtao, China, the squadron crossed the Pacific in an attempt to raid British commerce off South America. The ship saw action at the Battle of Coronel in November 1914 where a British squadron attempted to intercept the German flotilla. There she sank the British armored cruiser . The following month during the Battle of the Falkland Islands, "Nürnberg" was sunk by the armored cruiser , part of another British squadron sent to hunt down Spee's squadron.