[1] Propulsion was supplied by inverted three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines, providing 5,000 indicated horsepower (3,700 kW) to two propeller shafts.

[2] Initially used as a tender for the naval base at Garden Island, New South Wales, Pioneer was refitted during the second half of 1913, and on 1 January 1914, was reassigned for reservist training.

[2] Ten days later, the cruiser captured a second German ship, the Norddeutscher Lloyd liner Thuringen, which was presented to the government of India for use as a troop transport.

[2] On 1 November, Pioneer joined the escort of the convoy transporting the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps to Egypt as a replacement for the Japanese cruiser Nisshin, and with orders to check on the Cocos Islands during the voyage.

[2] Königsberg was scuttled on 12 July following shelling by two monitors, although Pioneer remained in the region until 31 August, when she sailed to Simon's Town in South Africa for a six-week refit.

[8] However, before she could leave, demands by General Jan Smuts for more Admiralty involvement in the East African Campaign saw Pioneer return to patrols on 24 February.

[8] She was handed to Cockatoo Island Dockyard for stripping in May 1923, was passed to the control of the Commonwealth Shipping Board in 1924, who then sold the hulk to H. P. Stacey of Sydney, in 1926.

[10] Pioneer's wreck sits 67 metres (219 ft 10 in) below sea level, at 33°51.850′S 151°19.844′E / 33.864167°S 151.330733°E / -33.864167; 151.330733, approximately 4 kilometres (2.2 nmi; 2.5 mi) east of Vaucluse.