HMCS Rainbow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Launched: | March 25, 1891 |
| Commissioned (To Canadian Navy): | August 4, 1910 |
| Decommissioned: | 1920 |
| Fate: | Decommissioned and scrapped |
| Struck: | 1920 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 3,600 tons |
| Length: | 314 feet |
| Beam: | 43 feet 6 inches |
| Draught: | 17 feet 6 inches |
| Speed: | 19.75 knots max |
| Complement: | 273 to 300 (Officers and Men) |
| Armament: | 2 X 6 inch Naval gun, 2 X 4.7 inch Naval gun, 8 X 6 pounders (Naval gun capable of firing a 6 pound shot), 2 to 4-14 inch Torpedo Tubes |
Contents |
[edit] Royal Navy Service
HMS Rainbow was built for Britain's Royal Navy by Palmers at Hebburn-On-Tyne in England. She was launched on the 25th of March, 1891 as HMS Rainbow and entered service in 1893. She would serve in China Station in Hong Kong from 1895 to 1898 and in Malta from 1898 to 1899. The cost of operating the Rainbow was deemed excessive, and between 1900 and 1909 she saw very limited service. Most of her operations at this time were closer to England. During this time, she also saw a severe reduction in Fleet Support, resulting in minor modernization updates. Her crew rotation at this time was basically used as a training cycle. Eventually, she was not used at sea from 1907 - 1909 at all. In early 1909 the Admiralty ordered her decommissioned, and placed on the Inactive List (Ships of the Line that were not in service).
[edit] Royal Canadian Navy Service
HMS Rainbow was presented to Canada in 1910, and was recommissioned HMCS Rainbow. Along with HMCS Niobe, she became one of the two first ships of the Royal Canadian Navy being purchased from the Admiralty. She entered Canadian service on May 4, 1910. Her initial duties included training, ceremonial visits and fishery patrols. Rainbow served Canada's west coast from Esquimalt, British Columbia.
When World War I broke out, Rainbow was already underway on a mission to find and engage ships of the Imperial German Navy in the Pacific Ocean, in particular the SMS Leipzig and the SMS Nurnberg. She never met either of these ships, although she missed the Leipzig by only a day at San Francisco. [1] This was to be Rainbow's first and only taste of peril, however.
In 1916 and early 1917 the Rainbow was used in the transporting of $140,000,000 in Russian Gold Bullion [2] (1917 Canadian Dollars) between Esquimalt and Vancouver. This money was placed in trust with Canada by the Russian government for protection due to the impending Russian revolution.
The RCN found that the cost of operating the Rainbow was using up too much budget of West Coast naval operations, and the crew of the Rainbow was sorely needed on the Atlantic coast for the fight against the U-boats. The Rainbow was decommissioned and de-activated on May 8, 1917, and her crew sent east. One month later, she was recommissioned in Esquimalt as a depot ship. She served in this capacity until 1920, when she was sold for scrap.
[edit] Post Royal Canadian Navy Service
After being paid off in 1920 she was sold as a freighter in Seattle, Washington and later scrapped.
The ship's name was used again for a Tench-class submarine from the United States (ex-USS Argonaut (SS-475) and serving from 1968 to 1974.
[edit] Commanding Officers
- CDR J.D.D. Stewart (RN) 4/8/1910 - 23/6/1911
- CDR W. Hose (RN) 24/6/1911 - 30/4/1917
- CDR H.E. Holme (RCN 1/5/1917 - 8/5/1917
- LCDR J.H. Knight (RCN) 1/7/1917 - 21/8/1917
- CDR J.T. Shenton (RCN) 22/8/1917 - 12/5/1918
- LT Y. Birley (RCN) 13/5/1918 - 14/10/1919
- CAPT E.H. Martin,CMG, (RCN) 15/10/1919 - 1/6/1920
[edit] References
- ^ An article about the Rainbow which describes the pursuit of the Leipzig
- ^ page which describes the bullion transport
- Macpherson, Keneth R. and Burgess, John. (1982)(Second Printing)The Ships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910-1981. Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-216856-1
