Empire Rainbow
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| Name | Empire Rainbow | ||
| Type: | Motor merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 6.942 tons | ||
| Completed | 1941 - Greenock Dockyard Co Ltd | ||
| Owner | Sir R. Ropner & Co Ltd, West Hartlepool | ||
| Homeport | London | ||
| Date of attack | 26 Jul, 1942 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-704 (Horst Wilhelm Kessler) | ||
| Position | 47.08N, 42.57W - Grid BC 6415 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 47 (0 dead and 47 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | ON-113 | ||
| Route | Avonmouth - Belfast Lough (18 Jul) - Halifax | ||
| Cargo | Ballast | ||
| History | Built for Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) as catapult armed merchant (CAM) The first aircraft launched from a CAM ship came from the Empire Rainbow in May 1941. The catapult was removed later. | ||
| Notes on loss | At 07.57 hours on 26 Jul, 1942, U-607 (Mengersen) attacked the convoy ON-113 about 300 miles east of Cape Race (grid BC 5693) and observed two hits on a freighter and heard one detonation further away. At 08.11 hours the same day, U-704 attacked the same convoy and saw one detonation. It seems that both U-boats had hit Empire Rainbow (Master John Kenney). The master, 38 crew members and eight gunners were picked up by the British destroyer HMS Burnham (H 82) (Cdr T. Taylor) and Canadian corvette HMCS Dauphin (K 157) (Lt R.A.S. MacNeil) and landed at St.Johns, Newfoundland. | ||
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