 After her commissioning , Medusa was assigned to the fleet reconnaissance forces . In 1905 , she was assigned to the Cruiser Division , alongside her sisters Ariadne and Amazone and the armored cruiser Prinz Heinrich . She served in the fleet scout role up to the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , at which point she was employed as a coastal defense vessel . In 1917 , she had four of her guns removed , and she was used as an auxiliary ship for the old ironclad König Wilhelm , which was being used as a training ship for naval cadets . 
