She saw action during Operation Albion in the Gulf of Riga in October 1917, including screening for the battleships König and Markgraf during the Battle of Moon Sound.

These were powered by sixteen coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers, although they were later altered to use fuel oil that was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate.

After completing initial sea trials, she was assigned to the Reconnaissance Unit on 23 December, taking the place of the older cruiser Berlin.

On 6 January, Strassburg was accidentally rammed by the Danish steamer Christian IX, which was passing through the wrong side of the canal entrance.

She arrived in Valletta, Malta, on 13 April, where she joined the Mediterranean Division, commanded by Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Konrad Trummler aboard the battlecruiser Goeben.

The work was completed by 8 December, when she was selected to participate in a long-distance cruise to test the reliability of the new turbine propulsion system in the battleships Kaiser and König Albert.

Strassburg got underway on 8 December and met the two battleships at sea the following day; they proceeded to the German colonies in western Africa by way of the Canary Islands.

After Rebeur-Paschwitz returned from the hospital, the three ships sailed south around Cape Horn and then north to Valparaiso, Chile, arriving on 2 April and remaining for over a week.

On 16 May, the two battleships left Rio de Janeiro for the Atlantic leg of the journey to sail directly back to Germany; they arrived in Kiel on 17 June 1914.

Late on 17 August, some two weeks after the outbreak of World War I, Strassburg and Stralsund sortied to conduct a sweep into the Hoofden to search for British reconnaissance forces.

[11][12] Strassburg joined the cruiser Rostock for another sweep on 21–22 August to sink British fishing trawler in the Dogger Bank area.

British battlecruisers and light cruisers raided the German reconnaissance screen commanded by Rear Admiral Leberecht Maass in the Heligoland Bight.

The ships of II Scouting Group carried out another sweep into the North Sea on 10 December that failed to locate any British forces.

[8] Strassburg was present during the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby on 15–16 December, as part of the screening force for the battlecruisers of Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper's I Scouting Group.

Two days later, she was dry docked at Wilhelmshaven for periodic maintenance, and so she was not present for the operation that resulted in the Battle of Dogger Bank on 24 January.

[17] On 18 March, Strassburg was transferred to VI Scouting Group, which was based in the Baltic and operated in the naval campaign against Russian forces.

[18] Strassburg and the rest of VI Scouting Group next saw action during Operation Albion against the Russian naval forces in the Gulf of Riga in October.

While preparations for the operation were underway in September, Schlick was temporarily transferred to command the transport fleet, as he had prior experience with naval logistics.

[18][20] On 31 October, Strassburg carried General Adolf von Seckendorff, the first military governor of the captured islands, from Libau to Arensburg.

The following day, she embarked General Hugo von Kathen, the commander of the landing force, along with his staff to be carried back to Libau.

On 14 December, Strassburg left Libau for Kiel for periodic maintenance, during which some consideration was given to converting the ship into an aircraft carrier, though this was not carried out.

While work was still underway, the ship was assigned to the High Seas Fleet, and on 4 April, she arrived at her new unit, IV Scouting Group.

In any event, German intelligence had failed to correctly identify when the next convoy sailed, and the High Seas Fleet returned to port empty-handed.

In August, she and the rest of IV Scouting Group were assigned to the naval component of Operation Schlußstein, a planned amphibious assault on St Petersburg, Russia.

The operation was cancelled soon thereafter, and Strassburg returned to the North Sea, passing through Turku, Mariehamn, Reval, and Libau before arriving on 1 October.

Admirals Reinhard Scheer and Hipper intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy, in order to secure a better bargaining position for Germany, whatever the cost to the fleet.

[22] On the morning of 27 October, days before the operation was scheduled to begin, around 45 crew members from Strassburg's engine room slipped over the side of the ship and went into Wilhelmshaven.

After the war, Germany hoped to retain Strassburg for further service in the reorganized Reichsmarine, but the Allies demanded the vessel be surrendered as a replacement for the ships that had been sunk in the scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow.

[26][27] Strassburg was commissioned into the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) on 2 June 1925 and her name was changed to Taranto, initially classed as a scout.

[28][29] Her refit took longer to complete than any of the other ex-German or ex-Austro-Hungarian cruisers Italy received after the war, and she did not return to active service until June 1925.