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As the British Admiralty moved to make Scapa Flow safe and secure, German intelligence became aware of the deployment of the British 2nd Battle Squadron to Lough Swilly, and sent the converted liner Berlin to lay a 200-strong minefield in the shipping areas outside the lough. The North Channel of the Irish Sea lies between Northern Ireland and the west coast of Scotland, and was essentially a busy Atlantic highway for shipping moving through the Irish Sea to and from Liverpool for foreign ports. Whereas it would have been suicide for Berlin to actually sail through the North Channel into the Irish Sea, German Intelligence believed that a successful mining operation could be carried out in the open waters of the Atlantic to the west of the North Channel.

The first victim of the mines laid by Berlin was the freighter Manchester Commerce, sunk on 26 October 1914. The following day, 27 October 1914, the news of her loss had not yet reached the Admiralty – and no minefield was suspected so far west. The 2nd Battle Squadron super-dreadnoughts King George V, Ajax, Centurion, Monarch, Thunderer, Orion and Audacious left Lough Swilly with their escorts to conduct gunnery exercises at sea.