HMS Dreadnought

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: HMS Dreadnought

British battleship launched in 1906 that established the pattern of the warships that dominated the world's navies for the next 35 years. It was equipped entirely with big guns because recent improvements in naval gunnery had made preparation for short-range battle unnecessary. Powered by steam turbines instead of the steam pistons then common, it sailed at a record top speed of 21 knots. It displaced 18,000 tons (16,300 metric tons), was 526 ft (160 m) long, and carried a crew of about 800. By World War I it was nearly outclassed by faster "superdreadnoughts" carrying bigger guns. It was placed on reserve in 1919 and broken up for scrap in 1923.

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US Military Dictionary: HMS Dreadnought

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Dreadnought, HMS

A ship of advanced design, produced first by the British, and completed in 1906, marking the beginning of rapid development in big-gun firepower. It displaced about 18, 000 tons, had steam turbines (instead of reciprocating engines), could attain a speed of 21 knots, and gave its name to a new class of advanced battleships.

Britain and the United States both built twenty-two dreadnoughts, and Germany nineteen, while Japan and Italy each built six. Russia and France both built seven of these ships.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Wikipedia: HMS Dreadnought

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Several ships and one submarine of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Dreadnought in the expectation that they would "dread nought", i.e. "fear nothing, but God". The 1906 ship was one of the Royal Navy's most famous vessels, battleships built after her were referred to as 'dreadnoughts', and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts.

First Royal Navy Dreadnought of 40 guns built in 1553.^[1]
HMS Dreadnought (1573), a 41-gun ship launched in 1573, rebuilt in 1592 and 1614, then broken up in 1648.
HMS Dreadnought (1654), a 52-gun Third rate ship of the line launched in 1654 as the Torrington for the Commonwealth of England Navy, renamed HMS Dreadnought at the Restoration in 1660, and lost in 1690.
HMS Dreadnought (1691), a 60-gun Fourth rate ship of the line launched in 1691, rebuilt in 1706 and broken up 1748.
HMS Dreadnought (1742), a 60-gun fourth rate launched in 1742 and sold 1784.
HMS Dreadnought (1801), a 98-gun Second rate launched in 1801, converted to a hospital ship in 1827, and broken up 1857.
HMS Dreadnought (1875), a battleship launched in 1875 and hulked in 1903, then sold in 1908.
HMS Dreadnought (1906), a revolutionary battleship, launched in 1906 and sold for breakup in 1921.
HMS Dreadnought (S101), the UK's first nuclear-powered submarine, launched in 1960 and decommissioned in 1980.

This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific ship led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended ship article, if one exists.

^ Boniface, Patrick. Dreadnought: Britain's First Nuclear Powered Submarine. Periscope Publishing Ltd., 2003. pp 84.

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		Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
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