HMS Rover was a Rainbow-class submarine designed and built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering in Barrow-in-Furness for the Royal Navy and was launched on 11 June 1930.

Ordered by the Royal Navy on 28 February 1929, the submarine was laid down on 24 July 1929 by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, at Barrow-in-Furness.

At the outbreak of World War II, Rover was still part of the 4th Submarine Flotilla, serving east of Suez.

[1] In April 1941, amidst the Battle of Crete, Rover arrived at Souda Bay from Alexandria to assist in an attempt to salvage the disabled the heavy cruiser HMS York, which had been severely damaged by Italian MT boats.

In early 1942, as the Japanese advanced down the Malay Peninsula towards Singapore, Rover was moved to Bombay, in India, where repairs were completed.