ship, then off San Francisco, was ordered to join a British task force commanded by Admiral Sir George Patey off San Clemente Island that included the battlecruiser and the light cruiser . After the German gunboat was interned by the Americans on 8 November, the ex-Russian battleship Hizen and Asama, which had been patrolling off Honolulu, Hawaii, to prevent the German ship from leaving, rendezvoused with the other ships of the American Expeditionary Squadron at Magdalena Bay, Baja California on 22 November. The squadron, now commanded by Rear Admiral Moriyama Keizaburo in Izumo, then headed south to search along the western coast of South America for German ships. On 11 December, after the receiving the news of the British victory in the Battle of the Falkland Islands, the squadron moved north to search off the western coast of Central America and then Mexican and U.S. waters in January. During a patrol off the coast of Oregon, the Izumo picked up an SOS from the steam schooner Francis H. Leggett, but did not provide aid due to the presence of a German cruiser nearby. The Leggett later sank, with only 2 survivors out of 62 on board. While searching Baja California, Asama was badly damaged when she struck an uncharted rock on 31 January. Izumo, delayed by poor communications, arrived on 12 February and Moriyama radioed for repair and salvage ships to be sent from Japan. Izumo was relieved by Tokiwa on 19 March and the ship returned home. Izumo relieved the protected cruiser in June 1917 at Malta as the flagship of Rear Admiral Kōzō Satō, commander of the Second Special Mission Squadron that controlled the Japanese destroyers that escorted convoys in the Mediterranean Sea. In December 1918, Izumo, accompanied by the destroyers and , sailed from Malta to Scapa Flow to assume control of seven captured German U-boats as prizes of war. They returned to Malta with the U-boats in March 1919 and the armored cruiser accompanied eight destroyers and the U-boats to Japan, while Izumo made port calls at Naples, Genoa and Marseilles before arriving in Japan with the remaining destroyers on 2 July 1919. Interwar years Izumo participated in the 1919 Naval Review by Emperor Taishō. She was re-designated a 1st class coast-defense ship on 1 September 1921 and used primarily for training duties in long-distance oceanic navigation and officer training for cadets in the Imperial Japanese