Although designed to defeat other battleships, HMS Dreadnought’s most famous encounter with hostile forces was the sinking of the German U-Boat U-29 by ramming it in 1915!Īfter the war, HMS Dreadnought became surplus to requirements as more and more modern battleships took her place. Immediately after entering service, HMS Dreadnought virtually rendered all older battleships obsolete due to its advanced design, thus also kicking off a naval arms race, most notably between Britain and Germany.ĭuring WWI, HMS Dreadnought saw little action, in fact missing the critical Battle of Jutland in 1916 as the ship was carrying out other duties.
HMS Dreadnought was laid down in October 1905, launched in February 1906 and, after undergoing sea trials, commissioned into service with the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet as its flagship in December - just fifteen months after it was laid down. In a similar fashion, HMS Dreadnought was to become the first warship to be fitted with steam turbines, giving her a greater speed than any comparable warship at the time. The latter in particular, meant a unified calibre main battery, thus moving away from the common practice of installing multiple calibres of weapons aboard a large warship, which proved increasingly inefficient. HMS Dreadnought, as it would become known, was developed to take advantage of these latest developments, in particular, by incorporating a steam turbine propulsion system and by adopting a so-called ‘all-big-gun’ weapons arsenal.
At the turn of the century, notable developments in all aspects of naval warfare could be observed, ranging from gunnery practices over torpedo design to propulsion systems.
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