Rainbow-class submarine


The Rainbow-class submarine or R class was a quartet of patrol submarines built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s.

Design and description

The Rainbow-class submarines were designed as improved versions of the Parthian class and were intended for long-range operations in the Far East. The submarines had a length of overall, a beam of and a mean draft of. They displaced on the surface and submerged. The Rainbow-class submarines had a crew of 56 officers and ratings. They had a diving depth of.
For surface running, the boats were powered by two diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the boats had a range of at and at submerged.
The boats were armed with six 21-inch torpedo tubes in the bow and two more in the stern. They carried six reload torpedoes for a grand total of fourteen torpedoes. They were also armed with a QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark IX deck gun.

Boats

Six boats were ordered in February 1929 but, following the May 1929 general election, the new government suspended the construction of two boats in August due to economic considerations; they were subsequently cancelled.
NameBuilderLaunchedFate
Chatham Dockyard14 May 1930Sunk 4 October 1940 in collision with the Italian merchant ship Antonietta Costa
Vickers, Barrow in Furness11 June 1930Sunk 18 April 1943 by mines near Barletta, Apulia, Italy
Vickers, Barrow in Furness11 June 1930Sunk 6 December 1940 by mines near Taranto, Apulia, Italy
Vickers, Barrow in Furness11 June 1930Scrapped 1946
RoyalistBeardmore, DalmuirCancelled 1929
RupertCammell Laird, BirkenheadCancelled 1929

It is often stated that the sank HMS Rainbow. However, the submarine Enrico Toti sank was.