Achilles was assigned to blockade duty after the battle and sank a German commerce raider in early 1917.

The four armoured cruisers of the 1903–1904 Naval Programme were originally intended to be repeats of the preceding Duke of Edinburgh class, but complaints from the fleet that the low placement of the secondary armament of earlier ships of this type meant that the guns could not be fought in anything other than a dead calm sea caused the issue to be reviewed by the Board of Admiralty in late 1903 and early 1904.

Based on the Duke of Edinburghs, the Warriors were expected to be lighter, which allowed weight to be used for changing the secondary armament.

Officers from the fleet suggested changing the armament to four 7.5-inch (191 mm) guns in single-gun turrets raised to the upper deck.

[3] They were much steadier gun platforms than their predecessors, with a metacentric height of 2.75 feet (0.8 m),[4] so much so that Achilles and Natal were the best-shooting ships in the fleet in 1907 and 1909 respectively.

Very good sea boats, according to naval historian Oscar Parkes, "they gained the reputation of being the best cruisers we (the British) ever built.

"[5] The cruisers were powered by two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which produced a total of 23,500 indicated horsepower (17,520 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph).

At full capacity, they could steam for 7,960 nautical miles (14,740 km; 9,160 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

[3] Twenty-four Vickers quick-firing (QF) 3-pounder guns were fitted for defence against torpedo boats, six on turret roofs and eighteen in the superstructure, all on pivot mounts.

This gun had a rate of fire of 25 rounds per minute and a maximum ceiling of 15,000 ft (4,600 m), but an effective range of only 2,000 yards (1,800 m).

[25] At the beginning of World War I, Natal, Achilles and Cochrane were assigned to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet and Warrior was in the Mediterranean.

Warrior remained in the Mediterranean until she was assigned the Grand Fleet in December 1914[23] and rejoined the 1st Cruiser Squadron.

The other three ships remained with the 2nd Cruiser Squadron for most of their careers and did not participate in any of the early naval battles of the war.

[25] Natal was sunk by a magazine explosion near Cromarty on 30 December 1915, killing an estimated 390–421 persons on board.

[23] Warrior was heavily damaged by German capital ships during the battle,[27] losing 71 crewmen killed and 36 wounded.

[29] Achilles was assigned blockade duties in the North Sea after the battle and sank the German raider Leopard in early 1917.

[30] Both of the surviving ships were briefly transferred to the North America and West Indies Station in late 1917 for convoy escort duties before returning home in early 1918.

[18][31] Achilles began a lengthy refit in February 1918[25] while Cochrane was based in Murmansk in mid-1918 during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.