The sister ships spent about half of the first decade of their careers in reserve and were based in home waters when on active duty.

They were assigned convoy escort duties in the Atlantic Ocean in 1918 before being separated when Attentive was transferred to the Mediterranean and Adventure was tasked to support the British intervention in North Russia.

The engines were designed to produce a total of 16,000 indicated horsepower (12,000 kW) which was intended to give a maximum speed of 25 knots.

[5] The scout cruisers soon proved too slow for this role as faster, turbine-engined, destroyers entered service before the First World War.

The sisters carried a maximum of 454 long tons (461 t) of coal which gave them a range of 2,370 nautical miles (4,390 km; 2,730 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

They were commissioned in mid-1907 as flotilla leaders in the Home Fleet and they spent the next seven years moving on and off of active service in British waters.

That year she played a minor role in the Zeebrugge Raid in early 1918 and was then assigned to escort convoys to Gibraltar together with her sister.