She was the first of the P&O 'R' class liners that had much of their interiors designed by Lord Inchcape's daughter Elsie Mackay.

[1] In 1936, she was assigned to transport $50 million (1936 prices) worth of Chinese artwork from London to Shanghai.

On 14 April, she encountered a storm off Gibraltar and ran aground in the Punta Mala after dragging anchor.

[3] She was requisitioned into the Royal Navy on the onset of World War II and finished conversion 30 November 1939 as the armed merchant cruiser HMS Ranpura.

Except for small corvettes, the converted passenger ships like HMS Ranpura were the only armed protection for most of the early convoys.