[2] The P&O ordered Mongolia from Sir W G Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. Ltd. of Newcastle upon Tyne on 22 November 1918, but construction was delayed by postwar refits of existing ships and she was not launched until 24 August 1922.

[citation needed] The SS Mongolia was renamed the Rimutaka by at least 15/10/1922, this from the ships cook ID.

[1] She was reconfigured at this time to carry 840 tourist class passengers; before entering service, she was in collision with Corfleet off the Nore.

After hostilities ceased, she continued in NZSC service on the same route; her last voyage with the company was in 1950, departing Wellington for London in January, 1950.

She was renamed SS Europa, converted to take 614 tourist class passengers, was stripped of her refrigerated cargo space, and placed into service transporting stateless immigrants from Europe to the United States and Canada.

[1] The ship was purchased in 1961 by Natumex Line (Compania Navegacion Turística Mexicana SA), a Mexican government-owned company, to provide a fortnightly service between Acapulco and Los Angeles.

She underwent a rebuild by the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Ltd. of Glasgow, Scotland including the fitting of a new bow and funnel.

[2] In 1963 she was laid up at Manzanillo, Colima, and in 1964 she was towed to Japan for scrap, arriving at Osaka on 15 December 1964 for breaking up at Sakai.