It was disbanded after the ships were transferred to the Ottoman Empire four years after their pursuit by the British battlecruisers Indomitable and Indefatigable and light cruisers Dublin and Gloucester.

When the First Balkan War broke out in October 1912, the only permanent German naval presence in the Mediterranean was provided by SMS Loreley, a small gunboat not intended to be used in combat.

Therefore, the German General Staff determined that a larger naval presence was needed to give Germany the ability to project power in the Mediterranean.

As a result, the battlecruiser Goeben and the light cruiser Breslau were despatched to join Loreley in Constantinople, forming the new Mediterranean Division.

The end of the war saw the withdrawal back to Germany of Strassburg and Dresden, while on 23 October 1913, Konteradmiral Wilhelm Souchon assumed command of the squadron.

[5] After their coaling, the ships decided to break out of Messina, although it had been surrounded by British warships, the battlecruisers Indomitable and Indefatigable and the light cruisers Dublin and Gloucester, under the overall command of Sir Archibald Berkeley Milne.

On August 6 they broke out of Messina and steamed northwards, feigning a move to the Adriatic Sea to make the British fleet drop back.

[6] The division then started to escort coal convoys and bombard Entente positions during the Dardanelles Campaign until the Battle of Imbros in early 1918.