It was Admiral John Fisher, the First Sea Lord, was the driving-force behind the development of the Dreadnought that was built at Portsmouth Dockyard between October 1905 and December 1906. The Dreadnought was the most heavily-armed ship in history. She had ten 12-inch guns (305 mm), whereas the previous record was four 12-inch guns. The gun turrets were situated higher than user and so facilitated more accurate long-distance fire. In addition to her 12-inch guns, the Dreadnought also had twenty-four 3-inch guns (76 mm) and five torpedo tubes below water. In the waterline section of her hull, the Dreadnought was armoured by plates 28 cm thick. The Dreadnought was the first major warship driven solely by steam turbines. The four sets of Parsons steam turbines with a total output of 24,700 h.p. were used. The Dreadnought was also faster than any other warship and could reach speeds of 21 knots. A total of 526 feet long (160.1 metres) the Dreadnought had a crew of over 800 men. The design of the Dreadnought was so revolutionary that all similar warships were also called Dreadnoughts. The introduction of this new warship resulted in an arms race between Britain and Germany. By 1914 the British Navy had nineteen Dreadnoughts (thirteen under construction), compared with Germany's thirteen (seven under construction). Other fleets with Dreadnoughts at sea by 1914 were: United States (8), France (8), Japan (4), Austria-Hungary (2) and Italy (1). In 1915 Britain produced the Queen Elizabeth, the first of the Super-Dreadnoughts. This warship had eight 15-inch guns, each capable of firing a 1,920-pound projectile 35,000 yards. This was followed by four other ships of this design: Warspite, Barham, Valiant and Malaya. All five ships survived the First World War, and heavily modified, served in the Second World War.
Just in case anyone misunderstands, this means the most heavily-armed ship up to that time! But we might have had to refer to these ships not as "Dreadnoughts" but as "Satsumas"! The Japanese were building a battleship called "Satsuma", which was laid down (i.e. the keel was laid in the dock), before that of Dreadnought. ("Satsuma" was a province in Japan, after which the fruit was named). She was the first battleship built in Japan (they were already building their own cruisers, but had bought their battleships from Britain up to then); so being less experienced the shipyard took until November 1906 to launch her (Dreadnought was launched in February). She was intended to have 12 12-inch guns in six twin turrets, compared with Dreadnought's 10 12-inch guns. But the guns were being supplied by Armstrong in the UK, who prioritised their production for the Royal Navy, and the Japanese settled for 4 12-inch guns, in the fore and aft turrets, and 10-inch guns in the other turrets. She also had the traditional reciprocating steam engines, rather than turbines like Dreadnought.
Annie - Are you referring to the submarine HMS Dreadnought now rotting away at Rosyth - laid up indefinitely while her radioactive contamination decays??
I'm surprised at how much it cost in 1906 !! HMS Dreadnought Built Portsmouth Dockyard, laid down October 1905, completed December 1906, cost £1,785,683. Size: Length 520 feet waterline 527 feet overall, beam 82 feet 1 inch, draught 26 feet 6 inches (normal), displacement 18,120 tons normal 20,730 tons deep Propulsion: 4 shaft Parsons turbines, 23,000 shp, 21kts. Trials: 24,712 shp = 21.05 knots Armour: 11-4in belt, 11in barbettes, 11in turret faces, 3-1.5in decks Armament: 10 x 12in 45cal MK X (5 x 2), 24 x 12 pounder (24 x 1), 5 x 18in TT When Admiral Sir John Fisher became First Sea Lord in October 1904 one of the first things he did was to set up a Design Committee to consider possible all big gun designs. The switch from the mixed armament of previous battleships to a uniform main calibre main gun and a light anti-torpedo boat defensive armament was controversial but soon copied by those navies that were not already thinking along similar lines. Just as revolutionary was the adoption of steam turbines which enabled higher speeds for less weight and volume of machinery as well as causing less vibration. Protection was slightly less than the last British pre-Dreadnoughts but better than most pre-Dreadnoughts and considered adequate. The slight reduction was necessary in order to provide better underwater protection with greater sub-division and the introduction of partial anti-torpedo bulkheads (screens) which protected the ships magazines against underwater explosions. Crew 700. World War 1 Service - 4th Battle Squadron Grand Fleet as flagship. December 1914 flag transferred to HMS Benbow. 18 February 1915 rammed and sank German submarine U29. April 1916 refit at Portsmouth May-June 1916 transferred to 3rd Battle Squadron at Sheerness. 14 June 1916 failed attempt to ram submarine off Dunnet Head. Late June 1916 rejoined 3rd Battle Squadron as flagship. March 1918 rejoined 4th Battle Squadron. August 1918 placed in reserve. 1921 Sold for scrap.
