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As the war began, Britain began a naval blockade of Germany, intended to cut off her maritime war supplies and to prevent the Imperial German Navy from breaking out into the North Sea and Atlantic to attack British shipping. The only way Germany could blockade or interdict British supply shipping was by the new submarine weapon.

The German Navy was inferior to the Royal Navy in numbers of ships – and so, to reduce the numerical inferiority, Germany embarked on a submarine offensive intended to sink as many British warships as possible and even the playing field. Ten submarines were initially sent out to attack Royal Navy vessels.

The submarine campaign however did not go well for Germany at first. During the first six weeks of the war, two of her submarines were lost for little or no return in British shipping. But this was all about to change – and Pathfinder would have the misfortune of being the first British warship to be sunk by a locomotive torpedo during this submarine offensive.