She was built as yard number 579, launched as Magvana, but renamed Domala before she was completed.

[9] BI put Dumana on its service between London and Bombay (now Mumbai, India, via the Suez Canal and Karachi.

[10] On 25 January 1935, when Dumana was in port in Marseille, fire broke out in a cargo of jute in her number 4 hold.

She was refitted with aircraft overhaul workshops, a troop deck for 500 men, and a galley, bakery and recreation room to cater for them.

[14] In 1941 Dumana evacuated RAF personnel from Crete after German forces invaded the island.

In 1942 she was converted into a base ship for Short Sunderland flying boats, and stationed at Bathurst (now Banjul), Gambia with two RAF squadrons.

[13] Late in 1943 Domana left Port-Étienne carrying 300 tons of RAF stores to deliver to ports between there and Takoradi, Gold Coast, including a call at Marshall, Liberia.

She carried a crew of 36 Europeans, 103 lascars, 21 RAF maintenance personnel, and nine DEMS gunners.

[13] At Freetown, Sierra Leone, Domana joined Convoy STL 8, which was going to Lagos, Nigeria.

[15] However, she and two escorts, the naval trawlers HMS Arran and Southern Pride, lost contact with the rest of the convoy.

Despite warnings of U-boats in the area, the ships were not steering an evasive course, and Domana had not deployed her torpedo nets.

The ship's increasing list caused temporary wooden superstructures on her shade deck to become detached and slide overboard, hitting some of the lifeboats alongside, and killing some of their occupants.

Arran rescued Captain West and about 60 other survivors, as Southern Pride provided a defensive screen.

[16] Both trawlers searched the area until 11:30 hrs, when they left for either Takoradi[13] or Sassandra[16] (accounts differ).

[13] Six unidentified bodies were washed up on a beach at Sassandra in Ivory Coast, and were buried in Imperial War Graves Commission plot at Sassandra Municipal Cemetery, marked by a standard IWGC headstone with a Merchant Navy inscription.

[citation needed] The 13 European members of Domana's crew who were killed are commemorated on panel 36 of the Second World War monument at Tower Hill Memorial.

The 17 lascars are commemorated on a roll of honour, one copy of which is held at Chittagong War Cemetery in Bangladesh, and the other at the Indian Seamen's Home at Mumbai in India.

[18] The seven RAF members are commemorated on the Air Forces Memorial at Englefield Green, England.