"Skirmisher" remained leader of the 7th Flotilla, based at Devonport, on the eve of the outbreak of the First World War. Following the outbreak of war, the 7th Flotilla moved to the Humber on the East Coast of Britain. On 15 December 1914, German battlecruisers, supported by the battleships of the main German High Seas Fleet set out on a raid against the coastal towns of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool. While the British had been warned by radio intercepts that the Germans were likely to carry out some sort of action, and sent out forces from the Grand Fleet to intercept, Admiral George A. Ballard, Admiral of Patrols in overall command of all the patrol flotillas, had, owing to poor weather, ordered the forces under his command to remain in harbor until they received explicit orders to sail. On receiving word of the bombardments, Ballard set out from the Humber in "Skirmisher" at together with eight torpedo boats. Heavy seas forced Ballard to send the torpedo boats back to port, while he searched up the coast in "Skirmisher" for the German raiders. "Skirmisher" failed to find the Germans, who had sailed eastwards well before Ballard reached the bombarded towns.