in the meantime, all three "courageous"-class ships were assigned to the 1st cruiser squadron (cs) in october 1917 when the admiralty received word of german ship movements on 16 october, possibly indicating a raid. admiral beatty, commander of the grand fleet, ordered most of his light cruisers and destroyers to sea in an effort to locate the enemy ships. "furious" was detached from the 1st cs and ordered to sweep along the 56th parallel as far as 4° east and to return before dark. her half-sisters and were not initially ordered to sea, but were sent to reinforce the 2nd light cruiser squadron patrolling the central part of the north sea later that day. two german light cruisers managed to slip through the gaps in the british patrols and destroyed the scandinavia convoy during the morning of 17 october, but no word was received of the engagement until that afternoon. the 1st cs was ordered to attempt to intercept the german ships, but they proved to be faster than expected and the british ships were unsuccessful.