Dreadnought

A dreadnought is a navy battleship. A battleship is a large ship used in ocean battles between countries. The first dreadnoughts were made in the early 20th century. They were named after The HMS Dreadnought, of the Royal Navy, the first ship of this type.

The first dreadnought was launched in 1906 by the United Kingdom, and was a new design of battleship. These ships had bigger guns; they also had guns that could shoot longer distances. Heavy steel layers were built on to the dreadnoughts as protection, which made them very strong and hard to sink. They were also much faster than older battleships. World War 1 was the first war in which dreadnoughts were used. After the war, a treaty was signed in Washington DC to limit the construction of battleships. This treaty helped stop the manufacturing of dreadnoughts. Japan, the UK, France, Italy and the United States signed this treaty.

Dreadnought Media

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  The Royal Navy's revolutionary HMS Dreadnought, launched in 1906, gave its name to the type

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  USS Texas, the only dreadnought still in existence, was launched in 1912 and is now a museum ship

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  HMS Agamemnon, an all-big-gun mixed-calibre ship of the Lord Nelson class. It carried four and ten guns.

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  A plan of HMS Dreadnought, showing the revolutionary design

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  Growth in size of battleship designs from 1905 onwards, showing the dreadnought's rapid growth between 1905 and 1920, prior to the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922

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  A plan of Bellerophon (1907) showing the armament distribution of early British dreadnoughts. The main battery is in twin turrets, with two on the "wings"; the light secondary battery is clustered around the superstructure.

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  Animated diagram of gun turret loading and firing, based on the British 15-inch gun used on super-dreadnoughts

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  12-pounder anti-torpedo boat guns mounted on the roof of a turret on Dreadnought (1906)

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  This section of Template:SMS shows a typical dreadnought protection scheme, with very thick armour protecting the turrets, magazines and engine spaces tapering away in less vital areas

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  Paris on speed trials (1914)