The battleship that obsoleted every rival sank just one enemy vessel, by ramming
HMS Dreadnought was so advanced in 1906 that every older battleship instantly became a pre-dreadnought, and Germany raced to catch up. Yet she missed Jutland while in refit, and her only notable kill came by ramming the submarine U-29, making her the sole battleship confirmed to have sunk one.
Two ideas made her revolutionary. First, a single calibre of big gun: ten 12-inch guns in five twin turrets instead of a mix of large and medium weapons. Gunnery pioneers such as Percy Scott were pushing expected battle ranges to about 6,000 yards, where crews had to watch shell splashes to correct their aim, and splashes from smaller guns muddied the picture. Second, steam turbines. Charles Parsons had stunned Queen Victoria's 1897 Diamond Jubilee review by racing his unauthorised yacht Turbinia at up to 34 knots, and Dreadnought became the first battleship to use turbines, making her the fastest in the world.
The idea was in the air. The Italian designer Vittorio Cuniberti proposed an all-big-gun ship in 1903; Japan laid down Satsuma five months before Dreadnought but, short of guns, fitted only four of the planned twelve heavy pieces; America's equivalents were ordered only in March 1906. What made Britain first was Admiral Jacky Fisher. Taking the Navy's top job on 20 October 1904, he forced the Admiralty board to accept a demand for 12-inch guns and at least 21 knots, then stacked a design committee with allies. Lessons from the Russo-Japanese War, where heavy shells proved decisive and speed let Admiral Togo cross the Russian line, reinforced his case. The committee chose turbines, saving 1,100 tons, and added internal bulkheads to guard magazines against torpedoes.
She was big for her day: 527 feet long, about 18,120 tons at normal load, carrying 700 men in 1907. On trials on 9 October 1906 she beat her design speed, reaching 21.6 knots. One innovation was unpopular. Officers were moved forward, closer to their action stations but next to noisy machinery, while the turbines had made the stern quieter than ever.
Her launch helped ignite a naval arms race before the First World War. During that war she was sidelined to Channel coastal defence in July 1916, rejoined the Grand Fleet in 1918, went into reserve in 1919 and was sold for scrap two years later. Her name outlived her as the label for a whole generation of warships.
Source: HMS Dreadnought (1906)
