Their design's incorporation of a pair of 9.2-inch guns and armoured sides served to address criticism directed against the previous Diadem class — advances made possible by their 1,000 ton increase in displacement over their predecessors.

On the outbreak of the First World War Cressy, Aboukir, Hogue, Bacchante and Euryalus formed the Seventh Cruiser Squadron.

This epithet proved prophetic when Cressy, Hogue and Aboukir were sunk in a single action on 22 September 1914 by the German submarine U-9 near the Dutch coast.

The compilers of The Naval Annual revised costs quoted for British ships between the 1905 and 1906 editions.

All three ships Cressy, Hogue and Aboukir were sunk under an hour by the German submarine SM U-9.