HMS Myrtle was an Azalea-class sloop that was part of a Royal Navy squadron that was sent to assist the Baltic States and their fight for independence.

[2][a] They were designed at the start of the First World War as relatively fast minesweepers that could also carry out various miscellaneous duties in support of the fleet such as acting as dispatch vessels or carrying out towing operations, but as the war continued and the threat from German submarines grew, became increasingly involved in anti-submarine duties.

[15] The intervention played a key role in enabling the establishment of the independent states of Estonia and Latvia[16] but failed to secure the control of Petrograd by White Russian forces, which was one of the main goals of the campaign.

On 26 June 1919, the 1st Fleet Sweeping Flotilla arrived at Biorko to reinforce the British forces in the Baltic.

[18] On 16 July,[b] four sloops of the 1st Flotilla, Myrtle, Gentian, Lilac and Lupin, were employed sweeping mines east of Saaremaa.