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Pathfinder displaced 2,940 tons fully loaded and was 385 feet long overall, with a beam of 38 feet 9 inches and a deep load draught of 15 feet 2 inches. She was driven by two screws that were powered by two 4-cylinder triple expansion engines – steam being generated by 12 water tube boilers. This gave her a top speed of 25 knots, fast at the time of her construction – but by the beginning of World War I, the new classes of light cruisers, destroyers and torpedo boats could make 27 knots. The scout cruisers were only marginally quicker than the battleships they were meant to scout for, which could make 21 knots, and the scout cruisers could be matched in speed by battlecruisers.

The three-funnel scout cruisers such as Pathfinder were also intended to operate as the lead ships of destroyer flotillas – but it was found in practice that the scout cruisers had poor range. They only carried 160 tons of bunker coal to feed their 12 boilers and power their two 4-cylinder triple expansion engines. With a limited range, and now being outrun by the newer classes of destroyers and light cruisers, they were relegated to secondary duties.