Wörth served in the German fleet for the first decade of her career, participating in the normal peacetime routine of training cruises and exercises.

Though they were the first modern battleships built in Germany, presaging the Tirpitz-era High Seas Fleet, the authorization for the ships came as part of a construction program that reflected the strategic and tactical confusion of the 1880s caused by the Jeune École (Young School).

[1] The main battery was heavier than that of other capital ships of the period, the secondary armament was considered weak in comparison to other battleships.

Her main belt armor was 400 millimeters (15.7 in) thick in the central citadel that protected the ammunition magazines and machinery spaces.

During her trials, she was briefly assigned to the maneuver squadron of the Heimatflotte (Home Fleet) to replace her sister Brandenburg, which was damaged by a boiler pipe explosion.

[5][6] On 1 August 1894, Wörth was assigned as the flagship of the German fleet for the annual autumn maneuvers, under the command of Admiral Max von der Goltz.

Goltz came aboard the new battleship on 19 August with his staff, which included then-Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea) Alfred von Tirpitz.

Toward the end of the maneuvers, which took place in both the North and Baltic Seas, Kaiser Wilhelm II came aboard Wörth and reviewed a fleet parade on 21 September.

[8] On 1 November, Czar Alexander III of Russia died; Wilhelm II initially planned to send his brother to St. Petersburg to represent Germany at the funeral aboard his flagship.

But General Bernhard Franz Wilhelm von Werder suggested that sending a warship named for the Battle of Wörth of the still-recent Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 would antagonize the French delegation and would be unwise, given the recently signed Franco-Russian Alliance.

[7] From 19 December to 27 March 1895, Wörth returned to her old duty as fleet flagship while Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm was in dock for repairs.

The fleet then steamed through the Skagerrak to the Baltic; heavy storms caused significant damage to many of the ships and the torpedo boat S 41 capsized and sank in the storms—only three men were saved.

The fleet stayed briefly in Kiel before resuming maneuvers, including live-fire exercises, in the Kattegat and the Great Belt.

[17] The typical routine was interrupted in early August when Wilhelm II and Augusta went to visit the Russian imperial court at Kronstadt; both divisions of I Squadron were sent to accompany the Kaiser.

In early December, I Division conducted maneuvers in the Kattegat and the Skagerrak, but they were cut short due to shortages in officers and men.

The maneuvers included a mock blockade of the coast of Mecklenburg and a pitched battle with an "Eastern Fleet" in the Danzig Bay.

While steaming back to Kiel, a severe storm hit the fleet, causing significant damage to many ships and sinking the torpedo boat S 58.

[10] During the Boxer Uprising in 1900, Chinese nationalists laid siege to the foreign embassies in Beijing and murdered Baron Clemens von Ketteler, the German minister.

[23] Those soldiers who were in China at the time were too few in number to defeat the Boxers;[24] in Beijing there was a force of slightly more than 400 officers and infantry from the armies of the eight European powers.

[27] Led by the British Admiral Edward Seymour, these men attempted to reach Beijing but were forced to stop in Tientsin due to heavy resistance.

The expedition would include Wörth and her three sisters, six cruisers, ten freighters, three torpedo boats, and six regiments of marines, under the command of Generalfeldmarschall (General Field Marshal) Alfred von Waldersee.

[29] On 7 July, Konteradmiral (KAdm—Rear Admiral) Richard von Geißler, the expeditionary force commander, reported that his ships were ready for the operation, and they left two days later.

The four battleships and the aviso Hela transited the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal and stopped in Wilhelmshaven to rendezvous with the rest of the expeditionary force.

[31] By the time the German fleet had arrived, the siege of Beijing had already been lifted by forces from other members of the Eight-Nation Alliance that had formed to deal with the Boxers.

[32] Wörth left Taku to coal at Qingdao, the German naval base in China, and on 25 October returned to Wusong via Yantai.

[34] Following her return from China, Wörth was taken into the drydocks at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Dockyard) in Wilhelmshaven for an overhaul that lasted from 14 to 17 August.

[36] After her modernization, Wörth returned to service on 27 September 1904 assigned to II Squadron, where she replaced the old coastal defense ship Beowulf.

She returned to reserve status on 15 September, and a month later was docked in the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel to maintain her for future service.

[37] On 5 September 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War I, Wörth was assigned to V Battle Squadron under the command of VAdm Max von Grapow.

Wörth was briefly transferred to VI Battle Squadron from 16 January to 25 February 1915 to strengthen the defenses of the Jade Bight and the mouth of the Weser.