Launched in 1909 as a passenger ship, Mantua was outfitted as an armed merchant cruiser in 1914 and served with the Royal Navy during World War I.

[1] On a voyage to Freetown in 1918, the passengers and crew of Mantua inadvertently spread the 1918 flu pandemic to Africa.

[2][3][4] Mantua was launched as a commercial merchant liner in 1909 for P&O[5] as part of the ten ship M-class.

As some of her passengers and crew were ill with influenza, HMS Mantua is considered one of the first ships to have spread the ongoing pandemic to the African continent.

[2][3] While six of her classmates were lost during the war,[6] the Mantua returned to civilian service in 1920, again filling the role of a passenger ship.