Recognition Guide Warships of the Second World War

Royal Navy — Submarine class

Rainbow-class submarine

Rainbow class

The class in numbers

  • 6 Planned
  • 4 Completed
  • 2 Cancelled
  • 3 Lost

Design and service

Type
Submarine
Navy
Royal Navy
In commission
1930–1946
Succeeded by
S class

Class specifications

Figures for the class as designed. Individual vessels varied, sometimes considerably — each vessel page carries its own configurations.

As built
Displacement, surfaced
1,763 long tons (1,791 t)
Displacement, submerged
2,030 long tons (2,063 t)
Length
87.48 m (287 ft)
Speed
17.5 knots (32.4 km/h, 20.1 mph)
Complement
53
Main gun
120 mm (4.7 in)
Armament
  • 8 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (6 bow, 2 stern) with 14 reloads
  • 1 × QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark IX deck gun
  • After 1942 :
  • 2 × 20 mm cannon
  • Equipped to lay mines through torpedo tubes

Roster

Vessel Pennant Commissioned Fate
HMS Rainbow (N16) N16 1932 Sunk 1940
HMS Regent (N41) N41 1930 Sunk 1943
HMS Regulus (N88) N88 1930 Sunk 1940
HMS Rover (N62) N62 1931 Scrapped 1946

Sources