Canada:
HMCS Rainbow. Rainbow would be the first commissioned vessel of the RCN as of August 4, 1910.
On May 4th 1910, the Naval Service of Canada was form after receiving royal assent from Britain. While it would not receive the formal title of the 'Royal Canadian Navy' until 1911, the cruisers
Rainbow and
Niobe would both be brought into commission on August 6 and September 6 of 1910 respectively.
Rainbow would sail from Britain to the West Coast of Canada where she would be stationed while
Niobe would sail to Halifax on the East Coast. Canadian born Rear Admiral Kingsmill was appointed the first flag officer of the RCN and would lead the young navy throughout its first years until the early 1920's. Canada attempted to fight for it's own naval ensign in this period but was rejected by the Admiralty.
This pair of old cruisers would form the only warships of the Royal Canadian Navy throughout the starvation years leading up to WWI and on the outbreak of war, they would form the mainstay of the Navy.
Rainbow would find herself as the sole Entente warship defending the entire western coast of North America for August of 1914. She would almost come to blows with the cruiser SMS
Leipzig off San Francisco that month but both ships would miss each other by only a single day.
Niobe would be brought into service as one of the many ships blockading the Eastern coast of North America from German raiders until her poor material condition made the navy turn her into an accommodations ship in Halifax.
It is without a doubt that the Royal Canadian Navy survived through its interwar neglect to celebrate its 111th birthday due to the commanding officer of
Rainbow, Walter Hose who almost single handedly saved the navy from dissolution prior to WWII.
