 On 7 May 1915 , the IV Scouting Group , which by then consisted of Stuttgart , Stettin , München , and Danzig , and twenty @-@ one torpedo boats was sent into the Baltic Sea to support a major operation against Russian positions at Libau . The operation was commanded by Rear Admiral Hopman , the commander of the reconnaissance forces in the Baltic . The IV Scouting Group was tasked with screening to the north to prevent any Russian naval forces from moving out of the Gulf of Finland undetected , while several armored cruisers and other warships bombarded the port . The Russians did attempt to intervene with a force of four cruisers : Admiral Makarov , Bayan , Oleg , and Bogatyr . The Russian ships briefly engaged München , but both sides were unsure of the others ' strength , and so both disengaged . Shortly after the bombardment , Libau was captured by the advancing German army , and Stuttgart and the rest of the IV Scouting Group were recalled to the High Seas Fleet . 
