What if HMCS Rainbow had faced down SMS Leipzig

What if the HMCS Rainbow had actually run into the SMS Leipzig off of San Francisco?

HMCS Rainbow:
Displacement: 3,600 tons
Length: 314 feet
Beam: 43.5 feet
Draught: 17.5 feet
Speed: 19.75 knots
Complement: 273 to 300
Armament:
2 × QF 6-inch guns
6 × QF 4.7-inch guns
8 × 6 pounders,
2 to 4 × 14 inch Torpedo Tubes

SMS Leipzig:
Displacement: 3,250 tons
Length: 341 ft waterline
Beam: 17.5 ft
Draught: 43.5 ft
Speed: 23 knots
Complement: 286
Armament: 10 × 104 mm (4.1 in) 40 cal guns (10 × 1)
10 × 1-pounder guns
4 machine guns

Could Commander Walter Hose, and the “First Ship” of the Royal Canadian Navy, have defeated the SMS Leipzig, or would HMCS Rainbow’s first taste of combat, be her last?
 
What if the HMCS Rainbow had actually run into the SMS Leipzig off of San Francisco?

HMCS Rainbow:
Displacement: 3,600 tons
Length: 314 feet
Beam: 43.5 feet
Draught: 17.5 feet
Speed: 19.75 knots
Complement: 273 to 300
Armament:
2 × QF 6-inch guns
6 × QF 4.7-inch guns
8 × 6 pounders,
2 to 4 × 14 inch Torpedo Tubes

SMS Leipzig:
Displacement: 3,250 tons
Length: 341 ft waterline
Beam: 17.5 ft
Draught: 43.5 ft
Speed: 23 knots
Complement: 286
Armament: 10 × 104 mm (4.1 in) 40 cal guns (10 × 1)
10 × 1-pounder guns
4 machine guns

Could Commander Walter Hose, and the “First Ship” of the Royal Canadian Navy, have defeated the SMS Leipzig, or would HMCS Rainbow’s first taste of combat, be her last?
Not having a great knowledge of the incident, I'd have to guess; the Leipzig was faster, but much less heavily armed than the Rainbow so I'd have to say that if Commander Hose didn't screw up, his ship should be able to defeat the German...
 
I've read that had the RAINBOW faced down the LEIPZIG she probably would've lost due to the fact that despite outgunning the LEIPZIG, she was inferior in every other way.

Not to say that her demise wouldn't have an effect. She'd most likely put up quite a fight and inflict a good deal of damage on her opponent prior to going down. Some have speculated that had the sinking of the RAINBOW might have actually been a boon for the navy as the crew could be immortalized as martyrs and used for propaganda purposes.

Meanwhile the resulting surge in support could lead to the Royal Canadian Navy building some worthwhile cruisers during the war. I'm thinking around 3 cruisers of the BIRMINGHAM Class or perhaps the HAWKINS class (named VANCOUVER, HALIFAX, and of course RAINBOW). At least one of the above cruisers are going to be completed in Canadian shipyards with the rest probably bought from British yards. They'll come into service just in time to relieve the elderly HMCS NIOBE, but not in enough time to do anything meaningfull in WWI.

During the inter-war periods the cruisers are probably either going to be cancelled, scrapped, or mothballed. There's no way they'd survive the cuts of the 1920's. However I give the RAINBOW the best odds of surviving the inter-war period perhaps serving as Canada's flagship for a spell before being decommissioned and made a monument to the fallen sailors of her predecessor.

Come World War II, the HMCS RAINBOW is re-activated and participates in the hunt for German commerce raiders before joining RCN destroyers in the North Sea. Over the course of the war she's probably rebuilt and modernized or simply replaced by another more modern cruiser (probably also named RAINBOW to continue the tradition). Post-War I'd wager that either the Modernized RAINBOW or her replacement is kept on 'till at least the Korean War. Keeping them after that probably doesn't occur due to their age and Canada's changing responsibilities in regards to NATO.

Following the deactivation of the HMCS RAINBOW sometime after the Korean War I'd imagine that her namesake lives on in some way shape or form to this day, providing the Canadian Navy with more tradition than it currently has.
 
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I definitely agree, that the propaganda value of the loss of HMCS Rainbow, would no doubt have done great things for the RCN. Also, recruitment into both the RCN and RNCVR would have perhaps even tripled due to the martyrdom of Commander Hose and his brave men.

Historically a second HMCS Rainbow did serve in the RCN/Cdn. Navy from 1968 to 1974.
 
Another interesting twist to this story would have been..."What If" the submarines HMCS CC-1 or CC-2(along with their tender HMCS Shearwater) obtained a kill on the SMS Leipzig?

Or....a highly unlikely, but interesting scenario: "What If" HMCS Algerine, an outdated 19th Century sloop, had scored the RCN's first kill?
 
I thought I'd bump this thread up and see if anyone knows more about the Leipzig and Nurnberg in the Pacific, particularly off the coast of Mexico..
 
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