the annual fleet maneuvers that year as the flagship of III Squadron, then commanded by VAdm Max Rollmann. Wittelsbach returned for another stint in the Training Squadron from 30 March to 21 April 1913. Wilhelm II commissioned a statue of Frithjof that he gave to Norway; Wittelsbach was used to transport the statue, departing Kiel on 5 July and arriving in Balholmen two days later. The ship was back in Germany in time for the fleet maneuvers in August, where she was assigned to V Division of III Squadron. After the completion of the maneuvers, she returned to the Reserve Division. World War I At the start of World War I, Wittelsbach was mobilized as part of IV Battle Squadron, under the command of VAdm Ehrhard Schmidt; she served as the flagship of the squadron, which also included her four sister ships and the battleships and . On 26 August 1914, the ships were sent to rescue the stranded light cruiser , which had run aground off Odensholm in the eastern Baltic, but by 28 August, the ship's crew had been forced to detonate explosives to destroy Magdeburg before the relief force had arrived. As a result, Wittelsbach and the rest of the squadron returned to Bornholm that day. Starting on 3 September, IV Squadron, assisted by the armored cruiser , conducted a sweep into the Baltic. The operation lasted until 9 September and failed to bring Russian naval units to battle. Two days later the ships were transferred to the North Sea, but stayed there only briefly, returning to the Baltic on 20 September. From 22 to 26 September, the squadron took part in a sweep into the eastern Baltic in an unsuccessful attempt to find and destroy Russian warships. From 4 December 1914 to 2 April 1915, the ships of the IV Squadron were tasked with coastal defense duties along Germany's North Sea coast against incursions from the British Royal Navy. On 3 April, Wittelsbach went into drydock in Kiel for periodic maintenance, before conducting training exercises in the western Baltic with the other ships of VII Division of IV Squadron, which included , , and . The German Army requested naval assistance for its campaign against Russia; Prince Heinrich, the commander of all naval forces in the Baltic, made VII Division, IV Scouting Group, and the torpedo boats of the Baltic fleet available for the operation. On