The Ships

The first ships in the Naval service were the cruisers HMCS Niobe and HMCS Rainbow, they were built in Britian. Both were Her Majesty's Canadian Ships. The HMCS Niobe was launched from Britain in 1899, but did not join the Canadian fleet until October 21st, 1910. When she reached Halifax she was not well received due to the fact that there was a lot of tension between Bourassa and Laurier. She was armed with sixteen six-inch guns, a dozen twelve-pounders and two eighteen-inch torpedo tubes. The HMCS Rainbow was sent to Canada two months before the HMCS Niobe, but she did not reach Esquimalt, B.C. until November 7th, 1910. She travelled 15,000 miles to the Pacific Coast. The trip would have been shorter, but the Panama Canal would not be built until 1914.