The speed with which she was built was the product of the need to evaluate her qualities at the earliest opportunity and, more importantly, to steal a march on foreign navies for her revolutionary design would, if successful, render existing battleship designs obsolete. Eight months later she went to sea for the first time for her preliminary steam trials and, although this did not mark her final completion, the production of a seagoing warship of 18,000 tons, and of a new type, in such a short period of time was a remarkable achievement. Over 6000 tons of material had been built into her since her laying down just nineteen weeks beforehand. On 10 February 1906 the hull of the first all-big-gun battleship, HMS Dreadnought, was launched at Portsmouth Dockyard.

PERFORMANCE OF MARINE VEHICLES AT SEA LECTURES.

SERVICE & OPERATION MANUALS - OTHER MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT.

SERVICE & OPERATION MANUALS - DIESEL ENGINES.

SERVICE & OPERATION MANUALS - NAVIGATION EQUIPMENT AND DP.

The ship was reduced to reserve in 1919 and sold for scrap two years later. In May 1916 she was relegated to coastal defence duties in the English Channel, before rejoining the Grand Fleet in 1918. Nor did Dreadnought participate in any of the other First World War naval battles.

Dreadnought did not participate in the Battle of Jutland in 1916 as she was being refitted. Ironically for a vessel designed to engage enemy battleships, her only significant action was the ramming and sinking of German submarine SM U-29 thus she became the only battleship confirmed to have sunk a submarine. Her launch helped spark a naval arms race as navies around the world, particularly the Imperial German Navy, rushed to match it in the build-up to the First World War. She was also the first capital ship to be powered by steam turbines, making her the fastest battleship in the world at the time of her completion.

20,730 long tons (21,060 t) ( deep load)Ħ,620 nmi (12,260 km 7,620 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h 12 mph)ĭreadnought was the first battleship of her era to have a uniform main battery, rather than having a few large guns complemented by a heavy secondary armament of smaller guns.

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