"Victoria Louise" departed for the 1912 training cruise on 10 August; she stopped shortly thereafter in Antwerp, Belgium, where King Albert I visited the ship. From there, she crossed the Atlantic to visit various ports in North America and the West Indies. From 31 October to 8 November, she lay at Veracruz, Mexico, where she protected German nationals in the area during the Mexican Revolution. The ship arrived back in Kiel on 10 March 1913. The last overseas training cruise began on 11 August at Wilhelmshaven and went to the Mediterranean. In December, "Victoria Louise" stopped in Piraeus, Greece; there King Constantine I and his wife Sophia, Wilhelm II's sister, celebrated Christmas aboard the cruiser. The ship returned to Kiel on 5 March 1914, where "FK" Hugo Dominik replaced Frey, before embarking on another Baltic cruise that began on 1 June and ended on 27 July in the midst of the July Crisis.