Rainbow-class submarine

HMSM Regent underway
Class overview
Operators:  Royal Navy
Preceded by: Parthian class
Succeeded by: S class
In commission: 1930–1946
Planned: 6
Completed: 4
Cancelled: 2
Lost: 3
Retired: 1
General characteristics [1]
Displacement:1,763 long tons (1,791 t) surfaced
2,030 long tons (2,060 t) submerged
Length:287 ft (87 m)
Beam:30 ft (9.1 m)
Draught:16 ft (4.9 m)
Propulsion:Diesel-electric
2 × Admiralty diesel engines, 4,640 hp
2 × electric motors, 1,635 hp
2 shafts
Speed:17.5 knots (20.1 mph; 32.4 km/h) surfaced
8.6 kn (9.9 mph; 15.9 km/h) submerged
Complement:53
Armament:• 8 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes (6 bow, 2 stern) with 14 reloads

• 1 × 4 inch QF Mark XII deck gun
After 1942 :
• 2 × 20 mm machine guns

• Equipped to lay mines through torpedo tubes

The Rainbow-class submarine or R class was a class of four submarines built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s. They were designed as long range patrol submarines for the Far East and were essentially repeats of the preceding Parthian-class submarines with minor modifications. Six boats were planned, but economic considerations resulted in the cancellation of the projected boats HMS Royalist and HMS Rupert.

Boats

Name Builder Launched Fate
HMS Rainbow Chatham Dockyard 14 May 1930 Sunk 4 October 1940 in collision with the Italian Merchant ship Antonietta Costa[2]
HMS Regent Vickers, Barrow in Furness 11 June 1930 Sunk 18 April 1943 by mines near Barletta, Apulia, Italy
HMS Regulus Vickers, Barrow in Furness 11 June 1930 Sunk 6 December 1940 by mines near Taranto, Apulia, Italy
HMS Rover Vickers, Barrow in Furness 11 June 1930 Scrapped 1946

It is often stated that the Italian submarine Enrico Toti sank HMS Rainbow. However, the submarine Enrico Toti sank was HMS Triad.[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships
  2. ↑ http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3405.html
  3. ↑ HMS Rainbow (N 16)

Online References