Royal Canadian Navy Cruisers: HMCS Rainbow, HMCS Niobe, HMCS Aurora

Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) 1910–1939, Cruisers

Founding of the Naval Service of Canada (1910), and the formation of the Royal Canadian Navy (1911)

The Naval Service of Canada (NSC) was established following the introduction of the Naval Service Act by Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier.  It was intended that it should be a distinct naval force for Canada, and that, should the need arise, it could be placed under British control.  The bill received royal assent on 4 May 1910.  The NSC was initially equipped with two former Royal Navy (RN) vessels, HMCS Niobe and HMCS Rainbow.  King George V granted permission for the service to be known as the Royal Canadian Navy on 29 August 1911.

During the first years of the First World War, the RCN was equipped with six ships which patrolled both the North American East and West coasts to deter the German naval threat.  A seventh ship, HMCS Shearwater, joined the force in 1915.  Just before the end of the war in 1918, the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service (RCNAS) was established with the purpose of carrying out anti-submarine operations.  The RCNAS was disbanded after the armistice of 11 November 1918.

After the war, the Royal Canadian Navy took over certain responsibilities of the Department of Transport's Marine Service, and slowly started to build its fleet, with the first warships specifically designed for the RCN being commissioned in 1932.

Cruisers

HMCS Rainbow (the RCN’s first ship, Apollo class); HMCS Niobe (the RCN’s second ship, Diadem class); HMCS Aurora (Arethusa class)

(Vancouver Public Library Historical Photographs, VPL 3132)

HMCS Rainbow Rainbow in Vancouver harbour, 1914.  HMCS Rainbow, formerly HMS Rainbow, was an Apollo-class protected cruiser built for Britain's Royal Navy by Palmers at Hebburn-On-Tyne in England.  She was launched on 25 March 1891 as HMS Rainbow and entered service in 1893.  She was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1910.  During the First World War, HMCS Rainbow was the only major Commonwealth warship on the western coast of North America at the outbreak of war.  She patrolled the Pacific coast as far south as Panama.  In 1916 and early 1917, she transported $140 million in Russian bullion between Esquimalt and Vancouver.  This money was placed in trust with Canada by the Russian government for protection due to the impending Russian revolution.  She was paid off on 8 May 1917.  On 5 July 1917 she was recommissioned to serve as a depot ship at Esquimalt.  She was paid off again on 1 June 1920 and scrapped.

(City of Vancouver Archives Photo, AM54-S4-: Mil P290.09)

HMCS Rainbow, with a civilian examining one of her QF 12-pounder 12-cwt guns.  These were a versatile 3-inch (76.2 mm) calibre naval gun introduced in 1894.  It was produced by Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick and used on Royal Navy warships, exported to allied countries, and and also used for land service.  In British service "12-pounder" was the rounded value of the projectile weight, and "12 cwt (hundredweight)" was the weight of the barrel and breech, to differentiate it from other "12-pounder" guns. 20 July 1914.

HMCS Rainbow, the first warship purchased for the Naval Service of Canada.  She was 100 metres long, displaced 3,400 tons, and could maintain a speed of 20 knots.  She was armed with two 6-inch/40 Mk. II QF gun.  These 5-ton bow and stern chaser guns were mounted singly on the fo’c’sle and quarterdeck, six 4.7-inch/40 QF guns (produced by Elswick) firing a 45-lb shell and mounted broadside, eight 6-pounders, one 3-pounder, and four 14-inch torpedo tubes.  She also carried one 12-pounder 8-cwt QF Naval Landing Gun and four .303-inch Maxim Machine Gun.  Mark Tunnicliffe.  Also Macpherson, Ken; Barrie, Ron.   The Ships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910–2002 (Third ed.). (Vanwell Publishing, St. Catharines, Ontario, 2002).

(RCN Photo)

HMCS Rainbow in 1910.

(RCN Photo)

HMCS Rainbow in 1910.

(City of Vancouver Archives Photo)

HMCS Rainbow, Vancouver, ca 1912.

(City of Vancouver Archives and RCN Photo)

HMCS Rainbow, Aug 1910.

(City of Vancouver Archives and RCN Photo)

HMCS Rainbow, Aug 1910.

 (City of Vancouver Archives and RCN Photo)

HMCS Rainbow, Aug 1910.

HMCS Niobe

(RCN Photo)

HMCS Niobe ca. 1910, Royal Canadian Navy.  HMS Niobe was a ship of the Diadem-class of protected cruiser in the Royal Navy.  She served in the Boer War and was then given to Canada as the first ship of the then newly created Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Niobe.  After patrol duties at the beginning of the First World War, she became a depot ship in Halifax.  Damaged in the 1917 Halifax Explosion, she was scrapped in the 1920s.  Two of HMCS Niobe's 6-inch guns are preserved in the City of Saint John, New Brunswick.

(RN Photos)

HMS Niobe in 1897 before being transferred to the RCN as HMCS Niobe in 1910.

(CFB Esquimalt Museum Photo)

HMCS Niobe on her arrival at Halifax, 21 Oct 1910.

(RCN Photo)

HMCS Niobe on her arrival at Halifax, 21 Oct 1910.

(RCN Photo)

HMCS Niobe.

(A MacLauglan Photo)

HMCS Niobe, Halifax.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3332976)

HMS Niobe in drydock in Halifax, 1917.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, PA-139151)

HMCS Niobe quarterdeck, 6-inch guns.

(Author Photo)

(Author Photo)

(Author Photo)

HMCS Niobe 6-inch QF Gun, HBOC Mk. II, Serial No. 749, 1898, on display at HMCS Brunswicker, Saint John, New Brunswick.

(Author Photo)

(Author Photo)

HMCS Niobe 6-inch QF Gun, 3 Field Regiment, Saint John, New Brunswick.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4046357)

HMCS Niobe stamp issued in 2010.

HMCS Aurora

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3400003)

HMCS Aurora, Esquimalt, British Columbia, 1921.  HMS Aurora, one of eight Arethusa-class light cruisers, was launched on 30 September 1913 at Devonport Dockyard.  She had served with the Grand Fleet from 1914 to 1916.  The RCN took possession of HMS Aurora on 1 November 1920 and renamed her HMCS Aurora.  She was decommissioned in 1922 and scrapped in 1927.

(RCN Photo)

HMCS Aurora, ca 1921.

(Colin Stevens Photo)

4-inch/45 QF Mk. IV Gun, on a single mount, (Serial No. 985), from HMCS Aurora.  This naval gun is located in front of the Merchant Navy, Army, Navy & Air Force (ANAF) Hall, 9831 4th Street, Sidney, British Columbia.

(Author Photo)

(Author Photo)

‍