HMS Mantua
HMS "Mantua" was a 20th-century ocean liner and armed merchant cruiser. 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. On a voyage to Freetown in 1918, the passengers and crew of "Mantua" inadvertently spread the 1918 flu pandemic to Africa. History. "Mantua" was launched as a commercial merchant liner in 1909 for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O). In her civilian career, the ship was used to transport passengers and mail to India and China. Following  the outbreak of the First World War, "Mantua" was commissioned into the Royal Navy in August 1914 as HMS "Mantua". She was attached to the 10th Cruiser Squadron and was tasked with patrolling the waters between Britain and Iceland. In October 1916 she was transferred into the 9th Cruiser Squadron. During one of her patrols in the North Sea, the ship reportedly hit a submerged object, an occurrence that has led to some sources suspecting that "Mantua" caused the loss of the German merchant submarine "Bremen", an event for which "Mantua" did not take credit. In 1918 "Mantua" sailed to  Freetown, Sierra Leone, arriving on 15 August. 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. Postwar service. The ship returned to civilian service in 1920, again filling the role of a passenger ship. "Mantua" was scrapped in Shanghai in 1935.