Berlin was built in 1908 by AG Weser of Bremen for the North German Lloyd shipping line, and saw service on the Genoa to New York City route prior to the outbreak of the First World War.

This was part of Germany's kleinkrieg campaign, to wear down Britain's numerical advantage by using mines and other devices to sink warships, or to divert them from fleet operations into trade protection.

Commissioned in October 1914 under the command of KzS Hans Pfundheller, the ship's first mission was laying a mine field off the north-west coast of Ireland against British trade.

[4] On 27 October vessels of the Grand Fleet sailed into Berlin’s minefield; the new dreadnought battleship HMS Audacious was struck and damaged, sinking later as efforts were made to tow her to safety.

The trans-Atlantic liner RMS Olympic was also in the area, with a full complement of passengers, but she escaped hitting any of Berlin’s mines, thus avoiding a major diplomatic incident.