During the Curragh Incident in the spring of 1914, Firedrake was despatched to Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire in the Republic of Ireland) in order to preserve communications between Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Paget in Dublin and the British Government in London.

[5] The Unionists suspected that the naval movements were part of a plot to subdue Ulster, and Firedrake's captain, Lieutenant Commander B W Barrow, was ordered to report to Paget's Headquarters in civilian clothes.

In Firedrake, Engineer Lieutenant Ranken informed his captain "that I had signed the British Covenant and that I should be no party to any aggressive move against Ulster if that were the intention in sending us to Kingstown".

At the start of World War I Firedrake and Lurcher were assigned to the Eighth Submarine Flotilla under the command of Commodore Keyes, and were based at Parkeston Quay, Harwich.

No transports carrying the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) were sunk, although the German Navy made little or no use of submarines against non-military ships at this stage of the war.

[8]On 26 August 1914 Commodore Keyes hoisted his broad pennant in Lurcher, leading Firedrake, two D-class and six E-class submarines eastwards into the North Sea.

[9] After the German cruiser Mainz was heavily damaged and disabled, Commodore Goodenough ordered his ships to cease firing on her at 12:55 pm and a rescue operation was undertaken.

Boats from Liverpool were deployed to retrieve those who had abandoned ship while Lurcher positioned alongside Mainz to transfer the crew who remained on board.

Although the operation had been something of a shambles in the mist, the results were clear: Three German light cruisers and a destroyer sunk against no Royal Navy losses.

Commodore Keyes was ordered to send eight submarines and his two command destroyers, Lurcher and Firedrake, to take stations off the island of Terschelling to catch the German ships should they turn west into the English Channel.

On 27 April 1916, the German submarine UC-5, under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Ulrich Mohrbutter, ran aground on Shipwash Shoal in position 52°03′N 01°46′E / 52.050°N 1.767°E / 52.050; 1.767 (SM UC-5).