When World War I broke out in August 1914, "Albion" was assigned to the 8th Battle Squadron, Channel Fleet. On 15 August 1914, she became second flagship of the new 7th Battle Squadron. On 21 August 1914, she was sent to the Saint Vincent-Finisterre Station to provide battleship support to cruiser squadrons operating in the Atlantic in case Imperial German Navy heavy ships broke out into the open Atlantic. Here, she served as the flagship of Rear Admiral H. L. Tottenham. On 3 September 1914, she transferred her flag, becoming a private ship, and moved to the Cape Verde-Canary Islands station to relieve her sister ship there. "Albion" was transferred to the Cape of Good Hope Station in South Africa in October 1914, where she took up duty as a guard ship at Walvis Bay through November 1914. Following the Battle of Coronel on 1 November, where a British cruiser squadron was defeated by the German East Asia Squadron, the Admiralty ordered Rear Admiral Herbert King-Hall, the commander of the Cape of Good Hope Station, to concentrate his squadron to prevent Spee from defeating him in detail. "Albion" was accordingly recalled from Walvis Bay to Table Bay. In December 1914 and January 1915, she participated in Allied operations against German Southwest Africa. Later in January, "Albion" returned to port in Simon's Town, South Africa, before proceeding to the Mediterranean Sea.