Few military platforms were as “game-changing” as the Royal Navy’s HMS Dreadnought. Whereas tanks, airplanes and even small arms saw evolutionary improvements, this one battleship was truly revolutionary in design. The commissioning of the HMS Dreadnought in 1906 could also be seen as the climax of an era of changes that began with the launch of HMS Warrior more than four decades earlier.
So significant were the advancements with this one ship that it rendered nearly all existing battleships obsolete and vulnerable.
HMS Dreadnought was the first battleship to feature a main armament of a single caliber. It was also the first capital ship to be powered by steam turbines instead of old triple-expansion engines, which greatly increased her speed. Her appearance ushered in a naval arms race that would reach global proportions.
The choice of name is also noteworthy, as “dread nought” meant “fear nothing.” The first Dreadnought was an English 40-gun ship built in 1553, the first of nine warships to bear the name. Yet it could be argued that HMS Dreadnought was built in response to fears within the Royal Navy, namely that it would be unable to maintain its superiority over rivals.
In that respect, HMS Dreadnought may have been a desperate attempt for the Royal Navy to cling to its dominance, which in less than 40 years would be lost forever. Moreover, the warship put too much emphasis on the large gun battleships, even as great innovation was already on the horizon.
Dawn of the Iron Navy
The “Age of Sail” has long been described as a period of wooden ships and iron men. That changed when the French Navy built La Gloire, the first armored ship-of-the-line and the “mother” of all armored warships that followed.
The arrival of La Gloire in 1859 caused great consternation within the Royal Navy, and just a year later, construction began on HMS Warrior, which proved superior to the French vessel in nearly every respect. HMS Warrior was the first seagoing iron-hulled armored warship, with all her main guns, engines, and boilers housed within her iron hull.
La Gloire and Warrior ignited a race to develop better guns and armor, one that would last until air power made the battleship obsolete in the Second World War. But HMS Warrior also marked the Royal Navy’s effort to maintain a qualitative edge over its rivals. Although the British sought to maintain the most significant naval force, as France and Russia attempted to close the gap, the Royal Navy sought the best warships, crewed by the best sailors.
In both counts, the British succeeded. The rigorous training and merit-based system gave it a qualitative edge over many rivals, notably Imperial Russia, which relied on conscripts. The Royal Navy had superior officer training, emphasized the need for gunnery skills, and was composed of a true professional force.
It could be stated that the late 19th century saw the era of “iron ships and iron men,” with the steel navy entering the picture. The decisive result of the Battle of Tsushima in 1905 also proved the concept of the capital ship, or at least did not cause anyone to question its capabilities.
Two-Power Standard
During the last two decades of the 19th century, the Royal Navy maintained nearly unrivaled naval supremacy. Still, unprecedented ideas and innovations emerged so quickly that a new vessel could be rendered obsolete even before it was launched. This problem wasn’t limited to the Royal Navy, but as the largest force, it operated more obsolete ships than most others.
This problem was arguably the result of London’s “Two-Power Standard,” which called for the Royal Navy to be equal in number to any two foreign navies. As rivals built more ships, the Royal Navy needed to build twice as many.
Construction outpaced technological development, and it was clear that this couldn’t continue forever.
In 1889, the Two-Power Standard was modified by the Naval Defense Act, which called for the Royal Navy to be capable of matching the world’s second- and third-largest navies. That resulted in a new era of shipbuilding, and in the 1890’s, around 42 battleships (later to be described as “pre-dreadnoughts”) were built.
Development of HMS Dreadnought
London had good reason to fear threats from France and Russia, yet it was the buildup of the Imperial German Navy in the late 19th century that sent shockwaves through the Royal Navy. Under the leadership of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, Germany began a major naval expansion. For the British, it wasn’t just about the number of ships, but also their quality and capability. The New Naval warfare doctrine focused on high speed and long-range firepower.
In 1904, Admiral Sir John Fisher was appointed First Sea Lord. “Jackie” Fisher, as he was known throughout the UK’s senior service, was considered a rarity in the Royal Navy of the day — and arguably in most militaries of the era. He was a senior officer who had a firm grasp of scientific and technological principles. Instead of clinging to the old ways, as so many senior leaders did in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Fisher was one who saw the need for innovation.
At 58 years of age, Fisher had seen the development of several battleships. Within weeks of his appointment, he convened a committee to design a battleship that could be armed with the most significant possible number of 305 mm (12-inch) guns, the caliber that the Admiralty saw as necessary for battleships. In addition to being well-armed, the committee called for a speed of 24 knots, as fast as cruisers.
Such a concept would later lead to the development of “battlecruisers,” but it also led to the construction of a new warship, a “super battleship.” Construction began in October 1905, when HMS Dreadnought was laid down at the Portsmouth Dockyard, in great secrecy and in record time. She was launched and ready for initial sea trials just a year and a day later.
This was accomplished by more than just sheer determination.
At the start of the 20th century, the Admiralty headquarters and the Royal Navy were large and complex organizations with numerous departments and specialized offices, each pursuing a distinct line of development. Fisher brought them in line, with a singular focus on HMS Dreadnought.
The Pros and Cons
Just two months after being launched, on December 2, 1906, HMS Dreadnought was commissioned. Displacing 16,710 tonnes (18,420 tons) and 161 meters (527 feet) in length, she was among the largest warships in the world, although some cruisers, like the Imperial Russian Navy’s Rurick, were longer.
No other warship was as powerful. HMS Dreadnought was armed with ten 12-inch guns in five turrets. The use of guns of a uniform caliber made it much easier to adjust the fall of shot in action, as all of the shells had the same ballistic characteristics, so that they would fall simultaneously in a cluster around the point of aim. Other warships with a mix of calibers resulted in shells with different flight times, arriving sporadically.
Instead of relying on voice pipes to transmit commands to the gun turrets, HMS Dreadnought was also fitted with electronic instruments for transmitting range and other data.
In addition to being well armed, HMS Dreadnought featured redistributed armor to protect its guns, engines and magazines, while an innovative bulkhead structure in the interior made flood control easier, which increased her survivability. The ship eliminated the longitudinal passageways between compartments below the main deck level, as connected compartments had been found to result in structural weakness. Flooding in one compartment could spill into the next, and if enough compartments were breached, the ship’s bow would submerge.
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Accommodations for the crew were vastly different from those on previous warships and arguably more efficient. Sailing ships like this battleship were controlled from the aft part of the ship, and officers were customarily housed aft. HMS Dreadnought reversed the arrangement, placing officers’ quarters in the forward part of the ship and enlisted men aft, placing them closer to their action stations. These innovations made for a more efficient and capable capital ship.
However, HMS Dreadnought was not without some flaws.
The battleship had poor secondary armament, which consisted of small 12-pounder guns that were easily outranged by destroyers. That left the ship vulnerable to torpedo attacks. It was among the design flaws later corrected with the Bellerophon-class battleships built for the Royal Navy.
The steam turbine engines were another bold, even cutting-edge innovation that enabled greater speed than other contemporary battleships. Still, the technology was far from fully mature and less reliable than the reciprocating steam engines. That resulted in HMS Dreadnought breaking down at high speeds.
The ship’s tripod mast, which carried the forward fire control platform, was situated immediately behind the forward funnel. That meant that the platform became very hot and filled with smoke when the ship was traveling at speed, making it virtually useless.
Likewise, the placement of the aforementioned armor was initially seen as revolutionary, but it proved less robust than later designs.
The Dreadnought Era Begins
With the commissioning of HMS Dreadnought, all previous concepts of battleship designs were swept away, and it also launched a new era of naval strategy and development. Every existing battleship was retroactively designated a “pre-dreadnought, and the battleships built immediately after are now known as “dreadnoughts.”
The British had achieved their primary goal. It had the most powerful warship in the world, but only briefly.
The arrival of HMS Dreadnought ignited a naval arms race — and while at her commissioning the Royal Navy possessed a lead of 25 first-class battleships over the fleets of foreign navies, when this super battleship arrived on the scene it meant that the Royal Navy possessed a lead of just one ship in the newest class. Instead of providing a technological advantage, it essentially leveled the playing field for navies worldwide.
The Royal Navy had a head start, but soon, nations big and small were building more powerful warships. Even worse, it didn’t take long for HMS Dreadnought to be eclipsed by so-called “Super-Dreadnoughts.” By 1910, Brazil had more powerful ships in its navy than HMS Dreadnought.
Still, by the time the First World War broke out in August 1914, the UK had “won” the naval arms race. It came at a terrible cost, however.
It changed the balance of power in Europe as the Anglo-German naval race heightened tensions between the two great powers, ending any chance of an alliance or partnership. It pushed the British to form a partnership with the French and, in turn, with Russia, helping set up the alliances that led to the First World War.
HMS Dreadnought and World War I
One irony is that the arms race and great power competition played absolutely no role when the two sides finally met in battle on the high seas. Germany never really closed the gap and had just 17 Dreadnought battleships and battlecruisers to the Royal Navy’s 29 Dreadnought battleships and battlecruisers. The two navies only met in one major, yet far from decisive, engagement at the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916.
HMS Dreadnought was not even among the warships to take part in the most significant naval engagement of the conflict. She was being refitted at the time, after which she was assigned to coastal defense duties in the English Channel.
The famed warship had already seen the only action of her entire career when she rammed and sank the German U-boat U-29 in 1915. HMS Dreadnought never fired her guns in anger against a surface target. Although she rejoined the Grand Fleet in 1918, she was reduced to reserve status in 1919 and sold for scrap two years later.
No other battleship was named Dreadnought, and despite the name being so crucial in Royal Navy history, no warship with that name saw service in World War II.
The legacy of HMS Dreadnought lived on, however, with S101, the Royal Navy’s first nuclear-powered submarine, which was launched in 1960 and decommissioned in 1980. The UK’s future nuclear deterrent submarine force will also be the Dreadnought class, with the lead boat being laid down on March 20, 2025, at BAE Systems’ Barrow-in-Furness, England, facility. On completion, the next HMS Dreadnought will be the largest submarine ever built in the UK and operated by the Royal Navy. It promises to be an innovative and more advanced class of ballistic missile submarines, but it won’t be as game-changing for the Royal Navy as the battleship HMS Dreadnought.
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