[3] The ship was laid down at Armstrong Whitworth's High Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne shipyard as Yard number 929 on 9 July 1917 and was launched on 10 November 1917.

[10] After convoy duty in the late stages of World War I, Chrysanthemum joined the Mediterranean Fleet, serving as a target towing ship, based at Malta.

The officer recorded commanding Chrysanthemum 1935-1936 was Captain Russell Hamilton McBean, one of the men of the 1919 raid on Kronstadt.

As a warship in Commission she correctly wore the White Ensign during her time as a drill ship of London Division RNR.

[14] As part of the move of the RNR to a new purpose built shore based drill ship HMS President in St Katharine Docks, London, Chrysanthemum was decommissioned.

Chrysanthemum was hired to Steven Spielberg for the boat chase sequences shot in 1988 in Tilbury Docks for the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.