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The U 19-class submarine U 21 of III Flotilla and two other German submarines were tasked to raid British naval units in and around the Firth of Forth, where the major British naval base at Rosyth was established. The Firth of Forth is a wide expanse of water on the east coast of Scotland: Edinburgh and North Berwick sit on the southern shores of its narrower section as it opens out to the North Sea.

U 21 was under the command of the 29-year-old Leutnant zur See Otto Hersing, who would go on to sink 40 Allied ships, totalling almost 114,000 tons of shipping, as well as damaging two others. (After later sinking the pre-dreadnought British battleship HMS Triumph on 25 May 1915 and then the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Majestic off Gallipoli two days later, on 27 May 1915, he became known as the Destroyer of Battleships by his colleagues. He would go on to survive the war, passing away in 1960.)

At the beginning of September, whilst approaching the Forth Rail Bridge in the Firth of Forth, the periscope of U 21 was spotted near the Carlingnose Battery, which opened fire without success. Hersing withdrew U 21 from the Forth and commenced a patrol in safer waters, from May Island southwards.