The ship's first major action was the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914. British battlecruisers and light cruisers raided the German reconnaissance screen in the Heligoland Bight. At 12:30, "Stralsund", , and arrived to reinforce Rear Admiral Leberecht Maass, and quickly turned the tide against the British light cruisers. Shortly thereafter, the British battlecruisers intervened and sank "Ariadne" and Maass's flagship . "Stralsund" and the rest of the surviving light cruisers retreated into the haze and were reinforced by the battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group. "Stralsund" and "Danzig" returned and rescued most of the crew of "Ariadne".