August 5, 1914: Canadas first military operation in the First World War begins at sea with HMCS Rainbow receiving orders from Ottawa instructing her to head south and protect the British sloops Algerine and Shearwater. The latter were on their way to Esquimalt from San Diego, California, attempting to outrun the German cruiser Leipzig, which had just departed Mexico a few days earlier. HMCS Rainbow, though a cruiser as well, was woefully underarmed and obsolete compared to the much newer Leipzig. Nonetheless, Rainbows commanding officer, Commander Walter Hose, was prepared to do what was necessary in order to carry out his mission of ensuring the two British sloops safety. Arriving in San Francisco on August 7, she was met with a lukewarm welcome by the American port authorities. With the United States being neutral, the port refused to supply Rainbow with the full load of coal that would allow her to hunt down the Leipzig. With only a small part of her bunkers filled up, Hose could only patrol for three short days off the Californian coast before turning homeward to Esquimalt on August 10. Nonetheless, the mission was a success, and Rainbow, Algerine, and Shearwater all managed to arrive in Esquimalt intact. She also managed to capture a pair of German schooners, the Leonor and the Oregon! The story could have been very different had the San Francisco port officials been a little bit more generous - Leipzig arrived in that port the day after Rainbows departure, and barring an extremely lucky torpedo hit or gunshot in Leipzigs magazines, Rainbow would surely have met her demise off the Californian coast. The value of the two British sloops were less in the vessels themselves than in their crews, who were soon transferred to the East coast, joining the much larger crew of the cruiser HMCS Niobe coming out of a refit. Photos: crew train on one of HMCS Rainbows 6 guns; HMCS Rainbow in Vancouver (credit: Vancouver archives)
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 22:51:12 +0000
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