As he began the engagement, Bakhirev ordered "Rurik" to reinforce him, and at 09:45, she arrived in the vicinity but found no friendly or enemy vessels. The ship's commander, Captain A. M. Pyshnov, turned his ship north in an attempt to locate Bakhirev's ships, and shortly thereafter, she encountered the German light cruiser . The two ships quickly opened fire, and while "Rurik" was significantly more powerful than her opponent, she failed to score any hits, while receiving ten herself. One started a fire on "Rurik"s forecastle and a near miss caused a large splash that damaged her forward rangefinder. The German shells were not powerful enough to penetrate her armor, but they nevertheless temporarily disabled one of her main battery turrets when fumes from an explosion threatened to poison its crew.