Launched on Oct. 15, 1917 at Irvine's in West Hartlepool the Anchusa class corvette HMS Rhododendron had a short career. On May 5, 1918 she was torpedoed and sunk 12 miles north of Fool Craig, Orkneys by SMS U-70. Under the command of Lt. Commander Charles A. Peal, the Q-Ship was hit by one torpedo which killed four of her crew. This should have started a pre-planned action where a panic party was sent off the ship in an attempt to fool the submarine commander and bring him and his boat close alongside where she could be fired on by the hidden guns.

However her commander failed to act properly, instead of sticking to the normal procedure of a Q-Ship and sending the panic party off to draw the submarine to the ship, he ordered the abandonment of the whole crew, in the confusion eleven men drowned.

Wünsche, the commander of U-70, learned the name of the ship from one of the survivors he picked up and then sent several shells into the ship, however being a Q-Ship she was designed to stay afloat even after sustaining severe damage. She did not sink until the following morning.