HMS Dreadnought

1906 DREADNOUGHT Like no other ship had done before her, HMS
Dreadnought, the first all-big-gun battleship, rendered all others of the type obsolete at a stroke.

HMS DREADNOUGHT

HMS Dreadnought was truly in a class of her own, being the first capital ship to mount main guns of only one calibre. She was also the first capital ship to be powered by turbine machinery. This innovation was to prove to be just as important. HMS Dreadnought was constructed in the Naval Dockyard at Portsmouth. Laid down on 2 October 1905, she was launched little more than four months later, on 10 February 1906. She started her trials a year to the day after being begun and was commissioned just before the years end, 1906. She had a relatively short life, being soon rendered obsolete in her turn, and was sold for breaking up in May 1921.

ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT

In terms of armament, the innovation was to mount ten X 12in (305mm) guns in place of four, supplemented by up to ten of the sort of guns with which cruisers were armed. Deleting the secondary battery made gunnery control much simpler (by that time, there was little difference in the maximum range of the two types, and gunnery control relied on observing fall of shot) and also facilitated both ammunition supply and the holding of spare parts. Not that Dreadnought did not mount smaller-calibre weapons, of course. Indeed, as constructed she had 24 X 12pdrs, though the count was later reduced to ten.

TECHNICAL DATA

Type: Battleship
Machinery: 4-shaft Parsons turbines delivering a total of 23,000shp
Dimensions (overall): Length, 1 60.6m (5271t); beam, 25m (82ft)
Displacement: 18,100t standard; 21,845t deep load
Draught: 9.4m (3lft) deep load
Complement: 695-773
Speed: 21 knots (39km/h)