The ship saw extensive service during the First World War; she was present at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914, but did not engage British warships.

The first tranche of vessels to fulfill this requirement, the Gazelle class, were designed to serve both as fleet scouts and as station ships in Germany's colonial empire.

The principle improvements consisted of a larger hull that allowed for an additional pair of boilers and a higher top speed.

Danzig carried up to 860 t (850 long tons) of coal, which gave her a range of 4,690 nautical miles (8,690 km; 5,400 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).

The ship then took most of the crew from the light cruiser Arcona, whose place she took in I Scouting Group, the reconnaissance force of the High Seas Fleet.

Prince Heinrich had pressed for such a cruise the previous year, arguing that it would prepare the fleet for overseas operations and would break up the monotony of training in German waters, though tensions with Britain over the developing Anglo-German naval arms race were high.

The fleet departed Kiel on 17 July, passed through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal to the North Sea, and continued to the Atlantic.

S32 accidentally collided with the torpedo boat S76 in the Kieler Förde on the night of 16–17 August, and Danzig came to their aid, picking up both of their crews.

[11] After returning to service in early 1911, Danzig joined the armored cruiser Prinz Adalbert for shooting practice held off the Faroe Islands in March.

In 1912, Danzig was recommissioned for service with the newly formed II Scouting Group, with the armored cruiser Blücher as its flagship.

[9] Following the outbreak of World War I on 28 July, Danzig was assigned to III Scouting Group on 1 August, which was given the task of patrolling the German Bight.

She was also present as part of the screen of the High Seas Fleet during the operation on 15–16 December to cover the battlecruisers' raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby.

She saw no combat during the action; after reports that other cruisers in the fleet screen had encountered British warships on the morning of 16 December, Ingenohl broke off and withdrew to port.

[13][15] On 7 May 1915, IV Scouting Group, which by then consisted of Danzig, München, Stettin, and Stuttgart, and twenty-one torpedo boats was sent into the Baltic Sea to support a major operation against Russian positions at Libau.

IV Scouting Group was tasked with screening to the north to prevent any Russian naval forces from moving out of the Gulf of Finland undetected, while several armored cruisers and other warships bombarded the port.

On 8 May, Danzig joined the old pre-dreadnought battleships of IV Battle Squadron on a reconnaissance toward Gotland; the operation lasted until 10 May, but encountered no Russian forces.

[16] After rejoining the High Seas Fleet, Danzig joined the escort for a minelaying operation near the Dogger Bank, and at 09:18, she struck a British mine on her starboard side and was seriously damaged.

Unable to steam under her own power, Danzig was taken under tow by her sister Berlin at 11:15 back to Helgoland, with München and seven torpedo boats escorting her.

The mine explosion tore off the ship's rudder, bent one of her propeller shafts, and holed the aft two watertight compartments, flooding them with water.

The initial inspection provided an estimate of six months worth of repairs, so Danzig's crew was again reduced on 16 December so the men could be employed aboard other vessels, and again most of them went to Frauenlob.

After a brief working up period, Danzig rejoined IV Scouting Group on 4 August, which was still assigned to patrol duties in the German Bight.

The Admiralstab (the Navy High Command) planned the operation to seize the Baltic island of Ösel, and specifically the Russian gun batteries on the Sworbe Peninsula.

On 18 September, the order was issued for a joint operation with the army to capture Ösel and Moon Islands; the primary naval component was to comprise the flagship, Moltke, along with III and IV Battle Squadrons of the High Seas Fleet.

Danzig's only significant action during the operation came on the 19th, when she and Königsberg and Nürnberg were sent to intercept two Russian torpedo boats reported to be in the area.