Foxglove was delivered to the Royal Navy on 14 May 1915, the first of her class to enter service,[3][4] Foxglove was deployed to Scapa Flow, and on 5 June 1915, was ordered with sister ship Acacia to search for the German submarine U-19 which had sunk two British steamers, ten fishing vessels and a Danish sailing vessel east of Fair Isle and the Orkney Islands between 2 and 4 June.

[5] During World War I, Foxglove and the other Acacia-class sloops were used almost exclusively for minesweeping duties until 1917, when the Royal Navy began to use them as convoy escorts, a task to which they were well suited.

[6] On the evening of 3 March 1921, the Singaporean passenger ship SS Hong Moh grounded on the White Rocks off Lamock Island, Swatow, China, and was wrecked with the loss of an estimated 900 to 1,000 lives.

The steamer SS Shanti discovered the wreck on the morning of 4 March and rendered assistance, rescuing 45 survivors before steaming to Swatow to seek additional help for Hong Moh.

[9] In this new role, she became a harbour guard ship in 1941,[1] serving at Londonderry (also known as Derry) in Northern Ireland for the remainder of World War II.