On 18 November 1914 "Skipjack" and the gunboat were about to start a minesweeping run in the channel between Fair Island and North Ronaldsay when "Skipjack" commanding officer sighted the conning tower of the German submarine "U-22". The two gunboats set off at full speed in pursuit, but the submarine outpaced them and dived to safety after a chase of 45 minutes. On the evening of 24 November 1914, the German submarine "U-16" was off the east coast of Orkney when she was spotted by a group of trawlers that were minesweeping. The trawlers summoned nearby gunboats, and at 1 pm the next day, "Skipjack" spotted "U-16", but the submarine dived to safety and escaped. While the German official history records that "Skipjack" fired on "U-16", this is not confirmed by "Skipjack"s log or official report of the incident. On 17 December 1914, "Skipjack" and the torpedo gunboats and were on passage from Lowestoft to Scapa Flow, when they were temporarily diverted to help to deal with a minefield laid off Scarborough during the Bombardment of Scarborough on 16 December.