"Wörth" served in the German fleet for the first decade of her career, participating in the normal peacetime routine of training cruises and exercises. She took part in the German naval expedition to China in 1900 to suppress the Boxer Rebellion; by the time the fleet arrived the siege of Peking had already been lifted, and "Wörth" saw little direct action in China. She was placed in reserve in 1906 as newer, more powerful vessels had supplanted the "Brandenburg" class as front-line battleships. Obsolete by the start of World War I, "Wörth" and "Brandenburg" served in a limited capacity in the Imperial German Navy as coastal defense ships for the first two years of the war; they did not see action. By 1916, "Wörth" was reduced to a barracks ship, a role in which she served until the end of hostilities. Despite plans to convert her into a freighter after the war, "Wörth" was scrapped in Danzig in 1919.