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HMS Dreadnought (1906)

HMS Dreadnought was a Royal Navy battleship whose design revolutionised naval power. The ship's entry into service in 1906 represented such an advance in naval technology that her name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships, the "dreadnoughts", as well as the class of ships named after her. Likewise, the generation of ships she made obsolete became known as "pre-dreadnoughts". Admiral Sir John "Jacky" Fisher, First Sea Lord of the Board of Admiralty, is credited as the father of Dreadnought. Shortly after he assumed office in 1904, he ordered design studies for a battleship armed solely with 12 in (305 mm) guns and a speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). He convened a "Committee on Designs" to evaluate the alternative designs and to assist in the detailed design work.

Dreadnought at sea in 1906
Class overview
NameDreadnought
Preceded by Lord Nelson class
Succeeded by Bellerophon class
Cost£1,785,683
Built1905–1906
In service1906–1919
In commission1906–1919
Completed1
Scrapped1
History
United Kingdom
NameDreadnought
Ordered1905
BuilderHM Dockyard, Portsmouth
Laid down2 October 1905
Launched10 February 1906
Commissioned2 December 1906
DecommissionedFebruary 1919
FateSold for scrap, 9 May 1921
General characteristics (as completed)
Displacement
Length527 ft (160.6 m)
Beam82 ft 1 in (25 m)
Draught29 ft 7.5 in (9 m) (deep load)
Installed power
Propulsion4 × shafts; 2 × steam turbine sets
Speed21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range6,620 nmi (12,260 km; 7,620 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement700 (1907); 810 (1916)
Armament
Armour

Dreadnought 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. 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.[1] 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.[2]

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.[3] Dreadnought did not participate in the Battle of Jutland in 1916 as she was being refitted. Nor did Dreadnought participate in any of the other First World War naval battles. In May 1916 she was relegated to coastal defence duties in the English Channel, before rejoining the Grand Fleet in 1918. The ship was reduced to reserve in 1919 and sold for scrap two years later.

Genesis

Background

 
Cuniberti's "ideal battleship"

Gunnery developments in the late 1890s and the early 1900s, led in the United Kingdom by Percy Scott and in the United States by William Sims, were already pushing expected battle ranges out to an unprecedented 6,000 yd (5,500 m), a distance great enough to force gunners to wait for the shells to arrive before applying corrections for the next salvo. A related problem was that the shell splashes from the more numerous smaller weapons tended to obscure the splashes from the bigger guns. Either the smaller-calibre guns would have to hold their fire to wait for the slower-firing heavies, losing the advantage of their faster rate of fire, or it would be uncertain whether a splash was due to a heavy or a light gun, making ranging and aiming unreliable. Another problem was that longer-range torpedoes were expected to soon be in service and these would discourage ships from closing to ranges where the smaller guns' faster rate of fire would become preeminent. Keeping the range open generally negated the threat from torpedoes and further reinforced the need for heavy guns of a uniform calibre.[4]

In 1903, the Italian naval architect Vittorio Cuniberti first articulated in print the concept of an all-big-gun battleship. When the Italian Navy did not pursue his ideas, Cuniberti wrote an article in Jane's Fighting Ships advocating his concept. He proposed an "ideal" future British battleship of 17,000 long tons (17,000 t), with a main battery of a dozen 12-inch guns in eight turrets, 12 inches of belt armour, and a speed of 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph).[5]

 
"Intermediate-dreadnought" Satsuma

The Royal Navy (RN), the Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States Navy all recognised these issues before 1905. The RN modified the design of the Lord Nelson-class battleship to include a secondary armament of 9.2 in (234 mm) guns that could fight at longer ranges than the 6 in (152 mm) guns on older ships, but a proposal to arm them solely with 12-inch guns was rejected.[6][Note 1] The Japanese battleship Satsuma was laid down as an all-big-gun battleship, five months before Dreadnought, but gun shortages allowed her to be equipped with only four of the twelve 12-inch guns that had been planned.[7] The Americans began design work on an all-big-gun battleship around the same time in 1904, but progress was leisurely and the two South Carolina-class battleships were not ordered until March 1906, five months after Dreadnought was laid down, and the month after she was launched.[8]

The invention by Charles Algernon Parsons of the steam turbine in 1884 led to a significant increase in the speed of ships with his dramatic unauthorised demonstration of his yacht Turbinia with her speed of up to 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph) at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee at Spithead in 1897. After further trials of two turbine-powered destroyers, Viper and Cobra, coupled with the positive experiences of several small passenger ships with turbines, Dreadnought was ordered with turbines.[9]

The Battle of the Yellow Sea and Battle of Tsushima were analysed by Fisher's Committee, with Captain William Pakenham's statement that "12-inch gunfire" by both sides demonstrated hitting power and accuracy, whilst 10-inch shells passed unnoticed. Admiral Fisher wanted his board to confirm, refine and implement his ideas of a warship that had both the speed of 21 knots and 12-inch guns, pointing out that at the Battle of Tsushima, Admiral Togo had been able to cross the Russians' "T" due to speed.[10] The long-range (14,000-yard (13,000 m))[11] engagement during the Battle of the Yellow Sea, in particular, although never experienced by any navy prior to the battle, seemed to confirm what the RN already believed.[12]

Development

 
3-view drawing of HMS Dreadnought in 1911, with QF 12 pdr guns added

Admiral Fisher proposed several designs for battleships with a uniform armament in the early 1900s, and he gathered an unofficial group of advisors to assist him in deciding on the ideal characteristics in early 1904. After he was appointed First Sea Lord on 20 October 1904, he pushed through the Board of Admiralty a decision to arm the next battleship with 12 inch guns and that it would have a speed no less than 21 knots. In January 1905, he convened a "Committee on Designs", including many members of his informal group, to evaluate the various design proposals and to assist in the detailed design process. While nominally independent it served to deflect criticism of Fisher and the Board of Admiralty as it had no ability to consider options other than those already decided upon by the Admiralty. Fisher appointed all of the members of the committee and he was President of the Committee.[13]

The committee decided on the layout of the main armament, rejecting any superfiring arrangements because of concerns about the effects of muzzle blast on the open sighting hoods on the turret roof below, and chose turbine propulsion over reciprocating engines to save 1,100 long tons (1,100 t) in total displacement on 18 January 1905. Before disbanding on 22 February, it decided on a number of other issues, including the number of shafts (up to six were considered), the size of the anti-torpedo boat armament,[14] and most importantly, to add longitudinal bulkheads to protect the magazines and shell rooms from underwater explosions. This was deemed necessary after the Russian battleship Tsesarevich was thought to have survived a Japanese torpedo hit during the Russo–Japanese War by virtue of her heavy internal bulkhead. To avoid increasing the displacement of the ship, the thickness of her waterline belt was reduced by 1 in (25 mm).[15]

The Committee completed its deliberations on 22 February 1905 and reported their findings in March of that year. It was decided due to the experimental nature of the design to delay placing orders for any other ships until Dreadnought and her trials had been completed. Once the design had been finalised the hull form was designed and tested at the Admiralty's experimental ship tank at Gosport. Seven iterations were required before the final hull form was selected. Once the design was finalized, a team of three assistant engineers and 13 draughtsmen produced detailed drawings.[16] To assist in speeding up the ship's construction, the internal hull structure was simplified as much as possible and an attempt was made to standardize on a limited number of standard plates, which varied only in their thickness.[17]

Description

Overview

 
Hull longitudinal section CC – condenser compartment; ER – engine room; BR – boiler room; WTB – watertight bulkhead; WTF – watertight frame. 1 – after capstan; 2, 4 – torpedo head magazine; 3 – mess space; 5 – fore top; 6 – engine room vent; 7 – boiler room vent; 8 – signal tower; 9 – ; 10 – main top; 11 – admirals sea cabin; 12 – chart house; 13 – conning tower; 14 – officers' cabin; 15 – escape trunk; 16 – vent; 17 – capstan; 18 – trimming tank; 19 – capstan engine room; 20 – submerged torpedo room; 21 – 12 in shellroom; 22 – 12 in magazines; 23 – ash hoist; 24 – reserve feed-water tank; 25 – coal bunker; 26 – coal shute; 27 – electric lift; 28 – oil fuel tank; 29 – fresh water tank; 30 – submerged torpedo room; 31 – fresh water tank; 32 – stern torpedo tube.

Dreadnought was significantly larger than the two ships of the Lord Nelson class, which were under construction at the same time. She had an overall length of 527 ft (160.6 m), a beam of 82 ft 1 in (25 m), and a draught of 29 ft 7.5 in (9 m) at deep load. She displaced 18,120 long tons (18,410 t) at normal load and 20,730 long tons (21,060 t) at deep load, almost 3,000 long tons (3,000 t) more than the earlier ships.[18] She had a metacentric height of 5.6 ft (1.7 m) at deep load and a complete double bottom.[19]

Officers were customarily housed aft, but Dreadnought reversed the old arrangement, so that the officers were closer to their action stations. This was very unpopular with the officers, not least because they were now berthed near the noisy auxiliary machinery while the turbines made the rear of the ship much quieter than they had been in earlier steamships. This arrangement lasted among the British dreadnoughts until the King George V class of 1910.[20] The crew numbered 700 officers and ratings in 1907, but increased to 810 in 1916.[18]

Propulsion

Vickers, Sons & Maxim was the prime contractor for the ship's machinery, but as they had no large turbine experience, they sourced them from Parsons.[21] Dreadnought was the first battleship to use turbines in place of the older reciprocating triple-expansion steam engines.[22] She had two paired sets of direct-drive turbines, each of which drove two 8-foot-10-inch (2.7 m) diameter, three-bladed propellers using[23] steam provided by 18 Babcock & Wilcox boilers that had a working pressure of 250 psi (1,724 kPa; 18 kgf/cm2). The turbines, rated at 23,000 shaft horsepower (17,000 kW), were intended to give a maximum speed of 21 knots; the ship reached 21.6 knots (40.0 km/h; 24.9 mph) from 27,018 shp (20,147 kW) during her sea trials on 9 October 1906.[24]

 
General arrangement of port engine room
1 – outer shaft; 2 – exhaust trunk from high pressure (HP) astern turbine for low pressure (LP) astern turbine; 3 – HP astern turbine; 4 – dummy piston; 5 – rotor shaft bearings; 6 – HP ahead turbine; 7 – inner shaft; 8 – main steam to HP ahead turbine; 9 – thrust block (outer); 10 – main steam to HP astern turbine; 11 – main steam from boiler room; 12 – astern manoeuvring valve; 13 – ahead manoeuvring valve; 14 – cruising manoeuvring valve; 15 – main steam to cruising turbine; 16 – main condenser; 17 – exhaust to the condenser; 18 – LP astern turbine; 19 – LP ahead turbine; 20 – exhaust trunk from HP for LP ahead turbine; 21 – exhaust trunk from cruising to HP ahead turbine; 22 – cruising turbine; 23 – thrust block (inner).

Dreadnought carried 2,868 long tons (2,914 t) of coal, and an additional 1,120 long tons (1,140 t) of fuel oil that was to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At full capacity, she could steam for 6,620 nautical miles (12,260 km; 7,620 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[21]

Armament

 
Turret with twin 12-inch Mk X guns. Two 12-pounder guns are mounted on the roof for defence against torpedo boats.

Dreadnought's main armament consisted of ten 45-calibre BL 12-inch Mark X guns in five twin Mark BVIII gun turrets. The forward turret ('A') and two aft turrets ('X' and 'Y') were located along the centreline of the ship. Two wing turrets ('P' and 'Q') were located port and starboard of the forward superstructure respectively. Dreadnought could deliver a broadside of eight guns between 60° before the beam and 50° abaft the beam. Beyond these limits she could fire six guns aft, and four forward. On bearings 1° ahead or astern she could fire six guns, although she would have inflicted blast damage on the superstructure.[20]

The guns could be depressed to −3° and elevated to +13.5°. They fired 850 lb (390 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,725 ft/s (831 m/s), giving a maximum range of 16,450 yd (15,040 m) with armour-piercing (AP) 2 crh shells. Using the more aerodynamic, but slightly heavier, 4 crh AP shells extended the range to 18,850 yd (17,240 m). The rate of fire of these guns was about two rounds per minute.[25] The ships carried 80 rounds per gun.[18]

 
12-pounder guns mounted on 'X' turret; note the sighting hoods on the turret roof

The secondary armament initially consisted of twenty-seven 50-calibre, quick-firing (QF) 3 in (76 mm) 12-pounder 18 cwt Mark I guns.[Note 2] The guns had an elevation range between −10° and +20°. They fired 12.5 lb (5.7 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,660 ft/s (810 m/s). The guns had a rate of fire of 20 rounds per minute. The ship carried three hundred rounds for each gun.[26]

The original plan was to dismount the eight guns on the forecastle and quarterdeck and stow them on chocks on the deck during daylight to prevent them from being damaged by muzzle blast from the main guns. Gun trials in December 1906 proved that this was more difficult than expected and the two port guns from the forecastle and the outer starboard gun from the quarterdeck were transferred to turret roofs, giving each turret two guns. The remaining forecastle guns and the outer port gun from the quarterdeck were removed by the end of 1907, which reduced the total to twenty-four guns. During her April–May 1915 refit, the two guns from the roof of 'A' turret were reinstalled in the original positions on the starboard side of the quarterdeck. A year later, the two guns at the rear of the superstructure were removed, reducing the ship to twenty-two guns. Two of the quarterdeck guns were given high-angle mounts for anti-aircraft duties and the two guns abreast the conning tower were removed in 1917.[27]

A pair of QF six-pounder (2.2 in (57 mm)) Hotchkiss anti-aircraft guns on high-angle mountings were mounted on the quarterdeck in 1915. They had a maximum depression of −8° and a maximum elevation of +60°.[26] The 6 lb (2.7 kg) shell was fired at a muzzle velocity of 1,765 ft/s (538 m/s).[28] They were replaced by a pair of QF 3-inch 20 cwt guns on high-angle Mark II mounts in 1916. These guns had a maximum depression of 10° and a maximum elevation of 90°. They fired a 12.5-pound shell at a muzzle velocity of 2,517 ft/s (767 m/s) at a rate of 29 rounds per minute. They had a maximum effective ceiling of 23,500 ft (7,200 m).[26]

Dreadnought carried five 18-inch (450 mm) submerged torpedo tubes, two on each broadside and one in the stern. Twenty-three torpedoes were carried for them. In addition six 14 in (356 mm) torpedoes were carried for her steam picket boats.[20]

Fire control

Dreadnought was one of the first vessels of the Royal Navy to be fitted with instruments for electrically transmitting range, order and deflection information to the turrets. The control positions for the main armament were located in the spotting top at the head of the foremast and on a platform on the roof of the signal tower. Data from a 9 ft (2.7 m) Barr and Stroud FQ-2 rangefinder located at each control position was input into a Dumaresq mechanical computer and electrically transmitted to Vickers range clocks located in the Transmitting Station located beneath each position on the main deck, where it was converted into range and deflection data for use by the guns. Voice pipes were retained for use between the Transmitting Station and the control positions. The target's data was also graphically recorded on a plotting table to assist the gunnery officer in predicting the movement of the target. The turrets, Transmitting Stations, and control positions could be connected in almost any combination.[29]

Firing trials against Hero in 1907 revealed this system's vulnerability to gunfire, as its spotting top was hit twice and a large splinter severed the voice pipe and all wiring running along the mast. To guard against this possibility, Dreadnought's fire-control system was comprehensively upgraded during her refits in 1912–13. The rangefinder in the foretop was given a gyro-stabilized Argo mount and 'A' and 'Y' turrets were upgraded to serve as secondary control positions for any portion or all of the main armament. An additional 9-foot rangefinder was installed on the compass platform. In addition, 'A' turret was fitted with another 9-foot rangefinder at the rear of the turret roof and a Mark I Dreyer Fire Control Table was installed in the main Transmitting Station. It combined the functions of the Dumaresq and the range clock.[30]

Fire-control technology advanced quickly during the years immediately preceding the First World War, and the most important development was the director firing system. This consisted of a fire-control director mounted high in the ship which electrically provided data to the turrets via pointers, which the turret crew were to follow. The director layer fired the guns simultaneously which aided in spotting the shell splashes and minimised the effects of the roll on the dispersion of the shells. A prototype was fitted in Dreadnought in 1909, but it was removed to avoid conflict with her duties as flagship of the Home Fleet.[31] Preparations to install a production director were made during her May–June 1915 refit and every turret received a 9 ft (2.7 m) rangefinder at the same time. The exact date of the installation of the director is not known, other than it was not fitted before the end of 1915, and it was most likely mounted during her April–June 1916 refit.[30]

Armour

Dreadnought used Krupp cemented armour throughout, unless otherwise mentioned. Her waterline belt measured 11 in (279 mm) thick, but tapered to 7 in (178 mm) at its lower edge. It extended from the rear of 'A' barbette to the centre of 'Y' barbette. Oddly, it was reduced to 9 in (229 mm) abreast 'A' barbette. A 6 in (152 mm) extension ran from 'A' barbette forward to the bow and a similar 4 inch extension ran aft to the stern. An 8 in (203 mm) bulkhead was angled obliquely inwards from the end of the main belt to the side of 'X' barbette to fully enclose the armoured citadel at middle deck level. An 8-inch belt sat above the main belt, but only ran as high as the main deck. One major problem with Dreadnought's armour scheme was that the top of the 11 inch belt was only 2 ft (0.6 m) above the waterline at normal load and it was submerged by over 12 inches at deep load, which meant that the waterline was then protected only by the 8 inch upper belt.[32]

 
Cross-section amidships showing the armour layout

The turret faces and sides were protected by 11 inches of armour, while the turret roofs used 3 inches of Krupp non-cemented armour (KNC). The exposed faces of the barbettes were 11 inches thick, but the inner faces were 8 inches thick above the main deck. 'X' barbette's was 8 inches thick all around. Below the main deck, the barbettes' armour thinned to four inches except for 'A' barbette (eight inches) and 'Y' which remained 11 inches thick. The thickness of the main deck ranged from 0.75 to 1 in (19 to 25 mm). The middle deck was 1.75 in (44 mm) thick on the flat and 2.75 inches (70 mm) where it sloped down to meet the bottom edge of the main belt. Over the magazine for 'A' and 'Y' turrets it was 3 inches thick, on slope and flat both. The lower deck armour was 1.5 inches (38 mm) forward and 2 inches aft where it increased to 3 inches to protect the steering gear.[30]

The sides of the conning tower were 11 inches thick and it had a 3-inch roof of KNC. It had a communications tube with 8 inch walls of mild steel down to the Transmitting Station on the middle deck. The walls of the signal tower were 8 inches thick while it had a roof of 3 inches of KNC armour. 2 inch torpedo bulkheads were fitted abreast the magazines and shell rooms of 'A', 'X' and 'Y' turrets, but this increased to 4 inches abreast 'P' and 'Q' turrets to compensate for their outboard location.[30]

In common with all major warships of her day, Dreadnought was fitted with anti-torpedo nets, but these were removed early in the war, since they caused considerable loss of speed and were easily defeated by torpedoes fitted with net-cutters.[33]

Electrical equipment

Electrical power was provided by three 100 kW, 100 V DC Siemens generators, powered by two Brotherhood steam and two Mirrlees diesel engines (which later changed to three steam and one diesel).[34] Among the equipment powered by 100 volt DC and 15 volt DC electrical systems were five lifts (elevators), eight coaling winches, pumps, ventilation fans, lighting and telephone systems.[35]

Construction

 
Dreadnought two days after the keel was laid. Most of lower frames are in place plus a few of the beams which supported the armoured deck.

Dreadnought was the sixth ship of the RN to bear the name Dreadnought,[36] which means "fear nothing".[37] To meet Admiral Fisher's goal of building the ship in a single year, material was stockpiled in advance and a great deal of prefabrication was done from May 1905 onwards with approximately 6,000 man weeks of work expended before she was formally laid down on 2 October 1905 on No.5 Slip.[38] In addition, she was built at HM Dockyard, Portsmouth which was regarded as the fastest-building shipyard in the world. The slip was screened from prying eyes and attempts made to indicate that the design was no different to other battleships. 1,100 men were already employed by the time she was laid down, but soon this number rose to 3,000. Whereas on previous ships the men had worked a 48-hour week, they were required on Dreadnought to work a 69-hour, six-day week from 06:00 to 18:00, which included compulsory overtime with only a 30-minute lunch break. While double shifting was considered to ease the long hours which were unpopular with the men, this was not possible due to labour shortages.[38] Day 6 (7 October), the first of the bulkheads and most of the middle-deck beams were in place. By Day 20, the forward part of the bow was in position and the hull plating was well underway. By Day 55 all of the upper-deck beams were in place, and by Day 83 the upper deck plates were in position. By Day 125 (4 February), the hull was finished.

Dreadnought was christened with a bottle of Australian wine[39] by King Edward VII on 10 February 1906,[40] after only four months on the ways. The bottle required multiple blows to shatter on a bow that later became famous. Signifying the ship's importance the launch had been planned to be a large elaborate festive event, however as the court was still in mourning for Queen Alexandra's father who had died twelve days before, she did not attend and a more sober event occurred. Following the launch, fitting out of the ship occurred at No.15 Dock.[41]

The ship's construction cost £1,785,683.[42] Other sources however state £1,783,883.[43] and £1,672,483.[18]

Trials

On 1 October 1906, steam was raised and she went to sea on 3 October 1906 for two days of trials at Devonport, only a year and a day after construction started. On the 9th she undertook her eight-hour-long full-power contractor trials off Polperro on the Cornwall coast during which she averaged 20.05 knots and 21.6 knots on the measured mile. She returned to Portsmouth for gun and torpedo trials before she completed her final fitting out. She was commissioned into the fleet on 11 December 1906, fifteen months after she was laid down.[44]

The suggestion[45][46] that her building had been sped up by using guns and/or turrets originally designed for the Lord Nelson-class ships which preceded her is not borne out as the guns and turrets were not ordered until July 1905. It seems more likely that Dreadnought's turrets and guns merely received higher priority than those of the earlier ships.[20]

Dreadnought sailed for the Mediterranean Sea for extensive trials in December 1906 calling in at Arosa Bay, Gibraltar and Golfo d'Aranci before crossing the Atlantic to Port of Spain, Trinidad in January 1907, returning to Portsmouth on 23 March 1907. During this cruise, her engines and guns were given a thorough workout by Captain Reginald Bacon, Fisher's former Naval Assistant and a member of the Committee on Designs. His report stated, "No member of the Committee on Designs dared to hope that all the innovations introduced would have turned out as successfully as had been the case."[47] During this time she averaged 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) between Gibraltar and Trinidad and 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) from Trinidad to Portsmouth, an unprecedented high-speed performance.[48] This shakedown cruise revealed several issues that were dealt with in subsequent refits, notably the replacement of her steering engines and the addition of cooling machinery to reduce the temperature levels in her magazines (cordite degrades more quickly at high temperatures).[49] The most important issue, which was never addressed in her lifetime, was that the placement of her foremast behind the forward funnel put the spotting top right in the plume of hot exhaust gases, much to the detriment of her fighting ability.[22]

Career

 
Dreadnought 1906–1908

From 1907–1911, Dreadnought served as flagship of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet.[50] In 1910, she attracted the attention of notorious hoaxer Horace de Vere Cole, who persuaded the Royal Navy to arrange for a party of Abyssinian royals to be given a tour of a ship. In reality, the "Abyssinian royals" were some of Cole's friends in blackface and disguise, including a young Virginia Woolf and her Bloomsbury Group friends; it became known as the Dreadnought hoax. Cole had picked Dreadnought because she was at that time the most prominent and visible symbol of Britain's naval might.[51]

She was replaced as flagship of the Home Fleet by Neptune in March 1911 and was assigned to the 1st Division of the Home Fleet. She participated in King George V's Coronation Fleet Review in June 1911. Dreadnought became flagship of the 4th Battle Squadron in December 1912 after her transfer from the 1st Battle Squadron, as the 1st Division had been renamed earlier in the year. Between September and December 1913 she was training in the Mediterranean Sea.[52]

At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, she was flagship of the 4th Battle Squadron in the North Sea, based at Scapa Flow. She was relieved as flagship on 10 December by Benbow.[53] Ironically for a vessel designed to engage enemy battleships, her only significant action was the ramming and sinking of German submarine SM U-29, skippered by K/Lt Otto Weddigen (of SM U-9 fame), in the Pentland Firth on 18 March 1915.[54] U-29 had broken the surface immediately ahead of Dreadnought after firing a torpedo at Neptune, and Dreadnought cut the submarine in two after a short chase. She almost collided with Temeraire who was also attempting to ram the submarine.[3] Dreadnought thus became the only battleship ever to purposefully sink an enemy submarine.[55][Note 3]

She was refitting at Portsmouth from 18 April–22 June 1916 and missed the Battle of Jutland on 31 May, the most significant fleet engagement of the war. Dreadnought became flagship of the 3rd Battle Squadron on 9 July, based at Sheerness on the Thames, part of a force of pre-dreadnoughts intended to counter the threat of shore bombardment by German battlecruisers. During this time, she fired her AA guns at German aircraft that passed over her headed for London. She returned to the Grand Fleet in March 1918, resuming her role as flagship of the 4th Battle Squadron, but was paid off on 7 August 1918 at Rosyth. She was recommissioned on 25 February 1919 as the tender Hercules to act as a parent ship for the Reserve.[3]

Dreadnought was put up for sale on 31 March 1920 and sold for scrap to Thos. W. Ward on 9 May 1921 as one of the 113 ships that the firm purchased at a flat rate of £2. 10/- per ton, later reduced to £2. 4/- per ton. As Dreadnought was assessed at 16,650 tons, she cost the shipbreaker £36,630[57] though another source states £44,750.[3] She was broken up at Ward's new premises at Inverkeithing, Scotland, upon arrival on 2 January 1923.[58] Very few artefacts from Dreadnought have survived, although a gun tompion is in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.[59]

Significance

 
1909 cartoon in Puck shows (clockwise) US, Germany, Britain, France and Japan engaged in naval race in a "no limit" game.

Her design so thoroughly eclipsed earlier types that subsequent battleships of all nations were generically known as "dreadnoughts" and older battleships as "pre-dreadnoughts". Her very short construction time was intended to demonstrate that Britain could build an unassailable lead in the new type of battleships.[60] Her construction sparked a naval arms race, and soon all major fleets were adding Dreadnought-like ships.[2]

In 1960, Britain's first nuclear submarine was named HMS Dreadnought (S101). The name will be used again for the lead ship of the new class of Trident missile submarines.[61]

The modern acoustic guitar developed with a wide, deep body was named the Dreadnought shape after this ship.[62]

In 2014, a newly classified genus of Titanosaurid sauropod dinosaurs was named Dreadnoughtus due to its gigantic size making it "virtually impervious" to attack; the name, which means "fear nothing," was inspired by the battleship.[63]

Notes

  1. ^ This type of battleship with its secondary armament 9.2 inches or greater would become known retroactively as semi-dreadnoughts. See Sturton, p. 11
  2. ^ "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 18 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
  3. ^ The American battleship New York may have sunk a submarine in October 1918, when she accidentally collided with what was suspected to be a submerged U-boat. That sinking has never been conclusively established, however.[56]

References

  1. ^ Sturton, pp. 76–77
  2. ^ a b Preston, p. 18
  3. ^ a b c d Burt, p. 41
  4. ^ Brown, David, pp. 180–182
  5. ^ Brown, David, p. 182
  6. ^ Parkes, p. 451
  7. ^ Preston, p. 288
  8. ^ Brown, David, p. 188
  9. ^ Brown, David, pp. 183–184
  10. ^ Massie, pp. 470–471, 474
  11. ^ Forczyk, p. 50
  12. ^ Brown, David, p. 175
  13. ^ Brown, David, pp. 186, 189–190
  14. ^ Roberts, pp. 12, 25
  15. ^ Brown, David, pp. 186, 190
  16. ^ Brown, Paul, p. 24
  17. ^ Roberts, p. 13
  18. ^ a b c d Burt, p. 29
  19. ^ Roberts, pp. 14, 86–87
  20. ^ a b c d Roberts, p. 28
  21. ^ a b Roberts, p. 25
  22. ^ a b Burt, p. 33
  23. ^ Johnson & Buxton, p. 167
  24. ^ Roberts, pp. 15–16, 24, 26
  25. ^ Friedman, pp. 59, 61
  26. ^ a b c Roberts, pp. 29–30
  27. ^ Roberts, p. 30
  28. ^ Friedman, p. 116
  29. ^ Roberts, pp. 30–31
  30. ^ a b c d Roberts, p. 31
  31. ^ Brooks, p. 48
  32. ^ Roberts, pp. 31–32, 139–43
  33. ^ Archibald, p. 160
  34. ^ Johnson & Buxton, p. 164
  35. ^ Brown, Paul; p. 27
  36. ^ Mizokami, Kyle (26 October 2016). "A Brief History of All the Warships Called "Dreadnought"". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 27 October 2016. If the name of Britain's next nuclear sub sounds old, it's because it is very, very old.
  37. ^ "Dreadnought" in Google Dictionary and Merriam-Webster dictionaries
  38. ^ a b Brown, Paul; p. 25
  39. ^ "The Battleships – Part 1". ABC TV. 2 July 2002.
  40. ^ Johnson & Buxton, p. 134
  41. ^ Johnson & Buxton, p. 153
  42. ^ Johnson & Buxton, p. 237
  43. ^ Parkes, p. 477
  44. ^ Roberts, pp. 13, 16
  45. ^ Preston, pp. 21–22
  46. ^ Parkes, p. 479
  47. ^ Roberts, p. 17
  48. ^ Burt, p. 35
  49. ^ Roberts, p. 34
  50. ^ Roberts, pp. 18–20
  51. ^ "The Dreadnought Hoax". Museum of Hoaxes. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  52. ^ Roberts, pp. 20–21
  53. ^ Roberts, p. 21
  54. ^ "Weddigen, Otto Eduard | International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)". encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  55. ^ Sturton, p. 79
  56. ^ Jones, pp. 66–67
  57. ^ Johnson & Buxton, p. 306
  58. ^ Roberts, pp. 22–23
  59. ^ "Gun tompion from HMS 'Dreadnought', 1906". Europeana Collections.
  60. ^ Sturton, p. 11
  61. ^ "New Successor Submarines Named" (Press release). Gov.uk. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  62. ^ . Martin Guitar Company. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  63. ^ Ewing, Rachel (4 September 2014). "Introducing Dreadnoughtus: A Gigantic, Exceptionally Complete Sauropod Dinosaur - DrexelNow". DrexelNow. Drexel University. Retrieved 24 April 2018.

Sources

  • Archibald, E. H. H. (1984). The Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy, AD 897–1984. Poole, UK: Blandford Press. ISBN 0-7137-1348-8.
  • Blyth, Robert J. et al. eds. The Dreadnought and the Edwardian Age (2011)
  • Brooks, John (2005). Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland: The Question of Fire Control. Naval Policy and History. Vol. 32. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-40788-5.
  • Brown, David K. (2003) [1997]. Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development 1860–1905. London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-529-2.
  • Brown, Paul (January 2017), "Building Dreadnought", Ships Monthly: 24–27
  • Burt, R. A. (2012) [1986]. British Battleships of World War One. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-053-5.
  • Forczyk, Robert (2009). Russian Battleship vs Japanese Battleship: Yellow Sea 1904–05. Long Island City, New York: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-330-8.
  • Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
  • Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1992). The Eclipse of the Big Gun: The Warship, 1906–45. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-607-8.
  • Johnston, Ian & Buxton, Ian (2013). The Battleship Builders - Constructing and Arming British Capital Ships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-027-6.
  • Jones, Jerry W. (1995). U.S. Battleship Operations in World War I, 1917–1918. Denton, Texas: University of North Texas. OCLC 37111409.
External video
  Booknotes interview with Robert Massie on Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War, 8 March 1992, C-SPAN
  • Massie, Robert K. (1991). Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War. New York and Canada: Random House. ISBN 0-394-52833-6.
  • Parkes, Oscar (1990) [1966]. British Battleships, Warrior 1860 to Vanguard 1950: A History of Design, Construction, and Armament (New & rev. ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-075-4.
  • Preston, Antony (1985). "Great Britain and Empire Forces". In Gray, Randal (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 1–104. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Roberts, John (2001) [1992]. The Battleship Dreadnought. Anatomy of the Ship (revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-057-6.
  • Ross, Angus (April 2010). "HMS Dreadnought (1906)—A Naval Revolution Misinterpreted or Mishandled?" (PDF). The Northern Mariner. XX (2): 175–198. doi:10.25071/2561-5467.491. S2CID 247286659.
  • Sturton, Ian, ed. (2008). Conway's Battleships: The Definitive Visual Reference to the World's All-Big-Gun Ships (2nd revised and expanded ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-132-7.
  • Sumida, Jon Tetsuro (1993). In Defense of Naval Supremacy: Financial Limitation, Technological Innovation and British Naval Policy, 1889–1914. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-08674-4. OCLC 28909592.

External links

  • Guide to the Dreadnought's distinctive 12-inch (305 mm) guns
  • Dreadnought Project's technical material on the weaponry and fire control of the ship
  • United States Navy history page on Dreadnought 27 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  • History article, with several period photographs
  • Illustration of the contemporary naval arms race sparked by Dreadnought
  • Maritimequest HMS Dreadnought photo gallery

dreadnought, 1906, other, ships, with, same, name, dreadnought, dreadnought, royal, navy, battleship, whose, design, revolutionised, naval, power, ship, entry, into, service, 1906, represented, such, advance, naval, technology, that, name, came, associated, wi. For other ships with the same name see HMS Dreadnought HMS Dreadnought was a Royal Navy battleship whose design revolutionised naval power The ship s entry into service in 1906 represented such an advance in naval technology that her name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships the dreadnoughts as well as the class of ships named after her Likewise the generation of ships she made obsolete became known as pre dreadnoughts Admiral Sir John Jacky Fisher First Sea Lord of the Board of Admiralty is credited as the father of Dreadnought Shortly after he assumed office in 1904 he ordered design studies for a battleship armed solely with 12 in 305 mm guns and a speed of 21 knots 39 km h 24 mph He convened a Committee on Designs to evaluate the alternative designs and to assist in the detailed design work Dreadnought at sea in 1906Class overviewNameDreadnoughtPreceded byLord Nelson classSucceeded byBellerophon classCost 1 785 683Built1905 1906In service1906 1919In commission1906 1919Completed1Scrapped1HistoryUnited KingdomNameDreadnoughtOrdered1905BuilderHM Dockyard PortsmouthLaid down2 October 1905Launched10 February 1906Commissioned2 December 1906DecommissionedFebruary 1919FateSold for scrap 9 May 1921General characteristics as completed Displacement18 120 long tons 18 410 t normal load 20 730 long tons 21 060 t deep load Length527 ft 160 6 m Beam82 ft 1 in 25 m Draught29 ft 7 5 in 9 m deep load Installed power18 Babcock amp Wilcox boilers 23 000 shp 17 000 kW Propulsion4 shafts 2 steam turbine setsSpeed21 knots 39 km h 24 mph Range6 620 nmi 12 260 km 7 620 mi at 10 knots 19 km h 12 mph Complement700 1907 810 1916 Armament5 twin 12 in 305 mm guns 27 single 12 pdr 3 in 76 mm guns 5 18 in 450 mm torpedo tubesArmourBelt 4 11 in 102 279 mm Deck 0 75 3 in 19 76 mm Barbettes 4 11 in 102 279 mm Turrets 3 12 in 76 305 mm Conning tower 11 in 279 mm Bulkheads 8 in 203 mm Dreadnought 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 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 1 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 2 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 3 Dreadnought did not participate in the Battle of Jutland in 1916 as she was being refitted Nor did Dreadnought participate in any of the other First World War naval battles In May 1916 she was relegated to coastal defence duties in the English Channel before rejoining the Grand Fleet in 1918 The ship was reduced to reserve in 1919 and sold for scrap two years later Contents 1 Genesis 1 1 Background 1 2 Development 2 Description 2 1 Overview 2 2 Propulsion 2 3 Armament 2 4 Fire control 2 5 Armour 2 6 Electrical equipment 3 Construction 4 Trials 5 Career 6 Significance 7 Notes 8 References 9 Sources 10 External linksGenesis EditBackground Edit Cuniberti s ideal battleship Gunnery developments in the late 1890s and the early 1900s led in the United Kingdom by Percy Scott and in the United States by William Sims were already pushing expected battle ranges out to an unprecedented 6 000 yd 5 500 m a distance great enough to force gunners to wait for the shells to arrive before applying corrections for the next salvo A related problem was that the shell splashes from the more numerous smaller weapons tended to obscure the splashes from the bigger guns Either the smaller calibre guns would have to hold their fire to wait for the slower firing heavies losing the advantage of their faster rate of fire or it would be uncertain whether a splash was due to a heavy or a light gun making ranging and aiming unreliable Another problem was that longer range torpedoes were expected to soon be in service and these would discourage ships from closing to ranges where the smaller guns faster rate of fire would become preeminent Keeping the range open generally negated the threat from torpedoes and further reinforced the need for heavy guns of a uniform calibre 4 In 1903 the Italian naval architect Vittorio Cuniberti first articulated in print the concept of an all big gun battleship When the Italian Navy did not pursue his ideas Cuniberti wrote an article in Jane s Fighting Ships advocating his concept He proposed an ideal future British battleship of 17 000 long tons 17 000 t with a main battery of a dozen 12 inch guns in eight turrets 12 inches of belt armour and a speed of 24 knots 44 km h 28 mph 5 Intermediate dreadnought Satsuma The Royal Navy RN the Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States Navy all recognised these issues before 1905 The RN modified the design of the Lord Nelson class battleship to include a secondary armament of 9 2 in 234 mm guns that could fight at longer ranges than the 6 in 152 mm guns on older ships but a proposal to arm them solely with 12 inch guns was rejected 6 Note 1 The Japanese battleship Satsuma was laid down as an all big gun battleship five months before Dreadnought but gun shortages allowed her to be equipped with only four of the twelve 12 inch guns that had been planned 7 The Americans began design work on an all big gun battleship around the same time in 1904 but progress was leisurely and the two South Carolina class battleships were not ordered until March 1906 five months after Dreadnought was laid down and the month after she was launched 8 The invention by Charles Algernon Parsons of the steam turbine in 1884 led to a significant increase in the speed of ships with his dramatic unauthorised demonstration of his yacht Turbinia with her speed of up to 34 knots 63 km h 39 mph at Queen Victoria s Diamond Jubilee at Spithead in 1897 After further trials of two turbine powered destroyers Viper and Cobra coupled with the positive experiences of several small passenger ships with turbines Dreadnought was ordered with turbines 9 The Battle of the Yellow Sea and Battle of Tsushima were analysed by Fisher s Committee with Captain William Pakenham s statement that 12 inch gunfire by both sides demonstrated hitting power and accuracy whilst 10 inch shells passed unnoticed Admiral Fisher wanted his board to confirm refine and implement his ideas of a warship that had both the speed of 21 knots and 12 inch guns pointing out that at the Battle of Tsushima Admiral Togo had been able to cross the Russians T due to speed 10 The long range 14 000 yard 13 000 m 11 engagement during the Battle of the Yellow Sea in particular although never experienced by any navy prior to the battle seemed to confirm what the RN already believed 12 Development Edit 3 view drawing of HMS Dreadnought in 1911 with QF 12 pdr guns added Admiral Fisher proposed several designs for battleships with a uniform armament in the early 1900s and he gathered an unofficial group of advisors to assist him in deciding on the ideal characteristics in early 1904 After he was appointed First Sea Lord on 20 October 1904 he pushed through the Board of Admiralty a decision to arm the next battleship with 12 inch guns and that it would have a speed no less than 21 knots In January 1905 he convened a Committee on Designs including many members of his informal group to evaluate the various design proposals and to assist in the detailed design process While nominally independent it served to deflect criticism of Fisher and the Board of Admiralty as it had no ability to consider options other than those already decided upon by the Admiralty Fisher appointed all of the members of the committee and he was President of the Committee 13 The committee decided on the layout of the main armament rejecting any superfiring arrangements because of concerns about the effects of muzzle blast on the open sighting hoods on the turret roof below and chose turbine propulsion over reciprocating engines to save 1 100 long tons 1 100 t in total displacement on 18 January 1905 Before disbanding on 22 February it decided on a number of other issues including the number of shafts up to six were considered the size of the anti torpedo boat armament 14 and most importantly to add longitudinal bulkheads to protect the magazines and shell rooms from underwater explosions This was deemed necessary after the Russian battleship Tsesarevich was thought to have survived a Japanese torpedo hit during the Russo Japanese War by virtue of her heavy internal bulkhead To avoid increasing the displacement of the ship the thickness of her waterline belt was reduced by 1 in 25 mm 15 The Committee completed its deliberations on 22 February 1905 and reported their findings in March of that year It was decided due to the experimental nature of the design to delay placing orders for any other ships until Dreadnought and her trials had been completed Once the design had been finalised the hull form was designed and tested at the Admiralty s experimental ship tank at Gosport Seven iterations were required before the final hull form was selected Once the design was finalized a team of three assistant engineers and 13 draughtsmen produced detailed drawings 16 To assist in speeding up the ship s construction the internal hull structure was simplified as much as possible and an attempt was made to standardize on a limited number of standard plates which varied only in their thickness 17 Description EditOverview Edit Hull longitudinal section CC condenser compartment ER engine room BR boiler room WTB watertight bulkhead WTF watertight frame 1 after capstan 2 4 torpedo head magazine 3 mess space 5 fore top 6 engine room vent 7 boiler room vent 8 signal tower 9 10 main top 11 admirals sea cabin 12 chart house 13 conning tower 14 officers cabin 15 escape trunk 16 vent 17 capstan 18 trimming tank 19 capstan engine room 20 submerged torpedo room 21 12 in shellroom 22 12 in magazines 23 ash hoist 24 reserve feed water tank 25 coal bunker 26 coal shute 27 electric lift 28 oil fuel tank 29 fresh water tank 30 submerged torpedo room 31 fresh water tank 32 stern torpedo tube Dreadnought was significantly larger than the two ships of the Lord Nelson class which were under construction at the same time She had an overall length of 527 ft 160 6 m a beam of 82 ft 1 in 25 m and a draught of 29 ft 7 5 in 9 m at deep load She displaced 18 120 long tons 18 410 t at normal load and 20 730 long tons 21 060 t at deep load almost 3 000 long tons 3 000 t more than the earlier ships 18 She had a metacentric height of 5 6 ft 1 7 m at deep load and a complete double bottom 19 Officers were customarily housed aft but Dreadnought reversed the old arrangement so that the officers were closer to their action stations This was very unpopular with the officers not least because they were now berthed near the noisy auxiliary machinery while the turbines made the rear of the ship much quieter than they had been in earlier steamships This arrangement lasted among the British dreadnoughts until the King George V class of 1910 20 The crew numbered 700 officers and ratings in 1907 but increased to 810 in 1916 18 Propulsion Edit Vickers Sons amp Maxim was the prime contractor for the ship s machinery but as they had no large turbine experience they sourced them from Parsons 21 Dreadnought was the first battleship to use turbines in place of the older reciprocating triple expansion steam engines 22 She had two paired sets of direct drive turbines each of which drove two 8 foot 10 inch 2 7 m diameter three bladed propellers using 23 steam provided by 18 Babcock amp Wilcox boilers that had a working pressure of 250 psi 1 724 kPa 18 kgf cm2 The turbines rated at 23 000 shaft horsepower 17 000 kW were intended to give a maximum speed of 21 knots the ship reached 21 6 knots 40 0 km h 24 9 mph from 27 018 shp 20 147 kW during her sea trials on 9 October 1906 24 General arrangement of port engine room 1 outer shaft 2 exhaust trunk from high pressure HP astern turbine for low pressure LP astern turbine 3 HP astern turbine 4 dummy piston 5 rotor shaft bearings 6 HP ahead turbine 7 inner shaft 8 main steam to HP ahead turbine 9 thrust block outer 10 main steam to HP astern turbine 11 main steam from boiler room 12 astern manoeuvring valve 13 ahead manoeuvring valve 14 cruising manoeuvring valve 15 main steam to cruising turbine 16 main condenser 17 exhaust to the condenser 18 LP astern turbine 19 LP ahead turbine 20 exhaust trunk from HP for LP ahead turbine 21 exhaust trunk from cruising to HP ahead turbine 22 cruising turbine 23 thrust block inner Dreadnought carried 2 868 long tons 2 914 t of coal and an additional 1 120 long tons 1 140 t of fuel oil that was to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate At full capacity she could steam for 6 620 nautical miles 12 260 km 7 620 mi at a speed of 10 knots 19 km h 12 mph 21 Armament Edit Turret with twin 12 inch Mk X guns Two 12 pounder guns are mounted on the roof for defence against torpedo boats Dreadnought s main armament consisted of ten 45 calibre BL 12 inch Mark X guns in five twin Mark BVIII gun turrets The forward turret A and two aft turrets X and Y were located along the centreline of the ship Two wing turrets P and Q were located port and starboard of the forward superstructure respectively Dreadnought could deliver a broadside of eight guns between 60 before the beam and 50 abaft the beam Beyond these limits she could fire six guns aft and four forward On bearings 1 ahead or astern she could fire six guns although she would have inflicted blast damage on the superstructure 20 The guns could be depressed to 3 and elevated to 13 5 They fired 850 lb 390 kg projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2 725 ft s 831 m s giving a maximum range of 16 450 yd 15 040 m with armour piercing AP 2 crh shells Using the more aerodynamic but slightly heavier 4 crh AP shells extended the range to 18 850 yd 17 240 m The rate of fire of these guns was about two rounds per minute 25 The ships carried 80 rounds per gun 18 12 pounder guns mounted on X turret note the sighting hoods on the turret roof The secondary armament initially consisted of twenty seven 50 calibre quick firing QF 3 in 76 mm 12 pounder 18 cwt Mark I guns Note 2 The guns had an elevation range between 10 and 20 They fired 12 5 lb 5 7 kg projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2 660 ft s 810 m s The guns had a rate of fire of 20 rounds per minute The ship carried three hundred rounds for each gun 26 The original plan was to dismount the eight guns on the forecastle and quarterdeck and stow them on chocks on the deck during daylight to prevent them from being damaged by muzzle blast from the main guns Gun trials in December 1906 proved that this was more difficult than expected and the two port guns from the forecastle and the outer starboard gun from the quarterdeck were transferred to turret roofs giving each turret two guns The remaining forecastle guns and the outer port gun from the quarterdeck were removed by the end of 1907 which reduced the total to twenty four guns During her April May 1915 refit the two guns from the roof of A turret were reinstalled in the original positions on the starboard side of the quarterdeck A year later the two guns at the rear of the superstructure were removed reducing the ship to twenty two guns Two of the quarterdeck guns were given high angle mounts for anti aircraft duties and the two guns abreast the conning tower were removed in 1917 27 A pair of QF six pounder 2 2 in 57 mm Hotchkiss anti aircraft guns on high angle mountings were mounted on the quarterdeck in 1915 They had a maximum depression of 8 and a maximum elevation of 60 26 The 6 lb 2 7 kg shell was fired at a muzzle velocity of 1 765 ft s 538 m s 28 They were replaced by a pair of QF 3 inch 20 cwt guns on high angle Mark II mounts in 1916 These guns had a maximum depression of 10 and a maximum elevation of 90 They fired a 12 5 pound shell at a muzzle velocity of 2 517 ft s 767 m s at a rate of 29 rounds per minute They had a maximum effective ceiling of 23 500 ft 7 200 m 26 Dreadnought carried five 18 inch 450 mm submerged torpedo tubes two on each broadside and one in the stern Twenty three torpedoes were carried for them In addition six 14 in 356 mm torpedoes were carried for her steam picket boats 20 Fire control Edit Dreadnought was one of the first vessels of the Royal Navy to be fitted with instruments for electrically transmitting range order and deflection information to the turrets The control positions for the main armament were located in the spotting top at the head of the foremast and on a platform on the roof of the signal tower Data from a 9 ft 2 7 m Barr and Stroud FQ 2 rangefinder located at each control position was input into a Dumaresq mechanical computer and electrically transmitted to Vickers range clocks located in the Transmitting Station located beneath each position on the main deck where it was converted into range and deflection data for use by the guns Voice pipes were retained for use between the Transmitting Station and the control positions The target s data was also graphically recorded on a plotting table to assist the gunnery officer in predicting the movement of the target The turrets Transmitting Stations and control positions could be connected in almost any combination 29 Firing trials against Hero in 1907 revealed this system s vulnerability to gunfire as its spotting top was hit twice and a large splinter severed the voice pipe and all wiring running along the mast To guard against this possibility Dreadnought s fire control system was comprehensively upgraded during her refits in 1912 13 The rangefinder in the foretop was given a gyro stabilized Argo mount and A and Y turrets were upgraded to serve as secondary control positions for any portion or all of the main armament An additional 9 foot rangefinder was installed on the compass platform In addition A turret was fitted with another 9 foot rangefinder at the rear of the turret roof and a Mark I Dreyer Fire Control Table was installed in the main Transmitting Station It combined the functions of the Dumaresq and the range clock 30 Fire control technology advanced quickly during the years immediately preceding the First World War and the most important development was the director firing system This consisted of a fire control director mounted high in the ship which electrically provided data to the turrets via pointers which the turret crew were to follow The director layer fired the guns simultaneously which aided in spotting the shell splashes and minimised the effects of the roll on the dispersion of the shells A prototype was fitted in Dreadnought in 1909 but it was removed to avoid conflict with her duties as flagship of the Home Fleet 31 Preparations to install a production director were made during her May June 1915 refit and every turret received a 9 ft 2 7 m rangefinder at the same time The exact date of the installation of the director is not known other than it was not fitted before the end of 1915 and it was most likely mounted during her April June 1916 refit 30 Armour Edit Dreadnought used Krupp cemented armour throughout unless otherwise mentioned Her waterline belt measured 11 in 279 mm thick but tapered to 7 in 178 mm at its lower edge It extended from the rear of A barbette to the centre of Y barbette Oddly it was reduced to 9 in 229 mm abreast A barbette A 6 in 152 mm extension ran from A barbette forward to the bow and a similar 4 inch extension ran aft to the stern An 8 in 203 mm bulkhead was angled obliquely inwards from the end of the main belt to the side of X barbette to fully enclose the armoured citadel at middle deck level An 8 inch belt sat above the main belt but only ran as high as the main deck One major problem with Dreadnought s armour scheme was that the top of the 11 inch belt was only 2 ft 0 6 m above the waterline at normal load and it was submerged by over 12 inches at deep load which meant that the waterline was then protected only by the 8 inch upper belt 32 Cross section amidships showing the armour layout The turret faces and sides were protected by 11 inches of armour while the turret roofs used 3 inches of Krupp non cemented armour KNC The exposed faces of the barbettes were 11 inches thick but the inner faces were 8 inches thick above the main deck X barbette s was 8 inches thick all around Below the main deck the barbettes armour thinned to four inches except for A barbette eight inches and Y which remained 11 inches thick The thickness of the main deck ranged from 0 75 to 1 in 19 to 25 mm The middle deck was 1 75 in 44 mm thick on the flat and 2 75 inches 70 mm where it sloped down to meet the bottom edge of the main belt Over the magazine for A and Y turrets it was 3 inches thick on slope and flat both The lower deck armour was 1 5 inches 38 mm forward and 2 inches aft where it increased to 3 inches to protect the steering gear 30 The sides of the conning tower were 11 inches thick and it had a 3 inch roof of KNC It had a communications tube with 8 inch walls of mild steel down to the Transmitting Station on the middle deck The walls of the signal tower were 8 inches thick while it had a roof of 3 inches of KNC armour 2 inch torpedo bulkheads were fitted abreast the magazines and shell rooms of A X and Y turrets but this increased to 4 inches abreast P and Q turrets to compensate for their outboard location 30 In common with all major warships of her day Dreadnought was fitted with anti torpedo nets but these were removed early in the war since they caused considerable loss of speed and were easily defeated by torpedoes fitted with net cutters 33 Electrical equipment Edit Electrical power was provided by three 100 kW 100 V DC Siemens generators powered by two Brotherhood steam and two Mirrlees diesel engines which later changed to three steam and one diesel 34 Among the equipment powered by 100 volt DC and 15 volt DC electrical systems were five lifts elevators eight coaling winches pumps ventilation fans lighting and telephone systems 35 Construction Edit Dreadnought two days after the keel was laid Most of lower frames are in place plus a few of the beams which supported the armoured deck Dreadnought was the sixth ship of the RN to bear the name Dreadnought 36 which means fear nothing 37 To meet Admiral Fisher s goal of building the ship in a single year material was stockpiled in advance and a great deal of prefabrication was done from May 1905 onwards with approximately 6 000 man weeks of work expended before she was formally laid down on 2 October 1905 on No 5 Slip 38 In addition she was built at HM Dockyard Portsmouth which was regarded as the fastest building shipyard in the world The slip was screened from prying eyes and attempts made to indicate that the design was no different to other battleships 1 100 men were already employed by the time she was laid down but soon this number rose to 3 000 Whereas on previous ships the men had worked a 48 hour week they were required on Dreadnought to work a 69 hour six day week from 06 00 to 18 00 which included compulsory overtime with only a 30 minute lunch break While double shifting was considered to ease the long hours which were unpopular with the men this was not possible due to labour shortages 38 Day 6 7 October the first of the bulkheads and most of the middle deck beams were in place By Day 20 the forward part of the bow was in position and the hull plating was well underway By Day 55 all of the upper deck beams were in place and by Day 83 the upper deck plates were in position By Day 125 4 February the hull was finished Dreadnought was christened with a bottle of Australian wine 39 by King Edward VII on 10 February 1906 40 after only four months on the ways The bottle required multiple blows to shatter on a bow that later became famous Signifying the ship s importance the launch had been planned to be a large elaborate festive event however as the court was still in mourning for Queen Alexandra s father who had died twelve days before she did not attend and a more sober event occurred Following the launch fitting out of the ship occurred at No 15 Dock 41 The ship s construction cost 1 785 683 42 Other sources however state 1 783 883 43 and 1 672 483 18 Trials EditOn 1 October 1906 steam was raised and she went to sea on 3 October 1906 for two days of trials at Devonport only a year and a day after construction started On the 9th she undertook her eight hour long full power contractor trials off Polperro on the Cornwall coast during which she averaged 20 05 knots and 21 6 knots on the measured mile She returned to Portsmouth for gun and torpedo trials before she completed her final fitting out She was commissioned into the fleet on 11 December 1906 fifteen months after she was laid down 44 The suggestion 45 46 that her building had been sped up by using guns and or turrets originally designed for the Lord Nelson class ships which preceded her is not borne out as the guns and turrets were not ordered until July 1905 It seems more likely that Dreadnought s turrets and guns merely received higher priority than those of the earlier ships 20 Dreadnought sailed for the Mediterranean Sea for extensive trials in December 1906 calling in at Arosa Bay Gibraltar and Golfo d Aranci before crossing the Atlantic to Port of Spain Trinidad in January 1907 returning to Portsmouth on 23 March 1907 During this cruise her engines and guns were given a thorough workout by Captain Reginald Bacon Fisher s former Naval Assistant and a member of the Committee on Designs His report stated No member of the Committee on Designs dared to hope that all the innovations introduced would have turned out as successfully as had been the case 47 During this time she averaged 17 knots 31 km h 20 mph between Gibraltar and Trinidad and 19 knots 35 km h 22 mph from Trinidad to Portsmouth an unprecedented high speed performance 48 This shakedown cruise revealed several issues that were dealt with in subsequent refits notably the replacement of her steering engines and the addition of cooling machinery to reduce the temperature levels in her magazines cordite degrades more quickly at high temperatures 49 The most important issue which was never addressed in her lifetime was that the placement of her foremast behind the forward funnel put the spotting top right in the plume of hot exhaust gases much to the detriment of her fighting ability 22 Career Edit Dreadnought 1906 1908 From 1907 1911 Dreadnought served as flagship of the Royal Navy s Home Fleet 50 In 1910 she attracted the attention of notorious hoaxer Horace de Vere Cole who persuaded the Royal Navy to arrange for a party of Abyssinian royals to be given a tour of a ship In reality the Abyssinian royals were some of Cole s friends in blackface and disguise including a young Virginia Woolf and her Bloomsbury Group friends it became known as the Dreadnought hoax Cole had picked Dreadnought because she was at that time the most prominent and visible symbol of Britain s naval might 51 She was replaced as flagship of the Home Fleet by Neptune in March 1911 and was assigned to the 1st Division of the Home Fleet She participated in King George V s Coronation Fleet Review in June 1911 Dreadnought became flagship of the 4th Battle Squadron in December 1912 after her transfer from the 1st Battle Squadron as the 1st Division had been renamed earlier in the year Between September and December 1913 she was training in the Mediterranean Sea 52 At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 she was flagship of the 4th Battle Squadron in the North Sea based at Scapa Flow She was relieved as flagship on 10 December by Benbow 53 Ironically for a vessel designed to engage enemy battleships her only significant action was the ramming and sinking of German submarine SM U 29 skippered by K Lt Otto Weddigen of SM U 9 fame in the Pentland Firth on 18 March 1915 54 U 29 had broken the surface immediately ahead of Dreadnought after firing a torpedo at Neptune and Dreadnought cut the submarine in two after a short chase She almost collided with Temeraire who was also attempting to ram the submarine 3 Dreadnought thus became the only battleship ever to purposefully sink an enemy submarine 55 Note 3 She was refitting at Portsmouth from 18 April 22 June 1916 and missed the Battle of Jutland on 31 May the most significant fleet engagement of the war Dreadnought became flagship of the 3rd Battle Squadron on 9 July based at Sheerness on the Thames part of a force of pre dreadnoughts intended to counter the threat of shore bombardment by German battlecruisers During this time she fired her AA guns at German aircraft that passed over her headed for London She returned to the Grand Fleet in March 1918 resuming her role as flagship of the 4th Battle Squadron but was paid off on 7 August 1918 at Rosyth She was recommissioned on 25 February 1919 as the tender Hercules to act as a parent ship for the Reserve 3 Dreadnought was put up for sale on 31 March 1920 and sold for scrap to Thos W Ward on 9 May 1921 as one of the 113 ships that the firm purchased at a flat rate of 2 10 per ton later reduced to 2 4 per ton As Dreadnought was assessed at 16 650 tons she cost the shipbreaker 36 630 57 though another source states 44 750 3 She was broken up at Ward s new premises at Inverkeithing Scotland upon arrival on 2 January 1923 58 Very few artefacts from Dreadnought have survived although a gun tompion is in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich 59 Significance EditSee also Anglo German naval arms race and South American dreadnought race 1909 cartoon in Puck shows clockwise US Germany Britain France and Japan engaged in naval race in a no limit game Her design so thoroughly eclipsed earlier types that subsequent battleships of all nations were generically known as dreadnoughts and older battleships as pre dreadnoughts Her very short construction time was intended to demonstrate that Britain could build an unassailable lead in the new type of battleships 60 Her construction sparked a naval arms race and soon all major fleets were adding Dreadnought like ships 2 In 1960 Britain s first nuclear submarine was named HMS Dreadnought S101 The name will be used again for the lead ship of the new class of Trident missile submarines 61 The modern acoustic guitar developed with a wide deep body was named the Dreadnought shape after this ship 62 In 2014 a newly classified genus of Titanosaurid sauropod dinosaurs was named Dreadnoughtus due to its gigantic size making it virtually impervious to attack the name which means fear nothing was inspired by the battleship 63 Notes Edit This type of battleship with its secondary armament 9 2 inches or greater would become known retroactively as semi dreadnoughts See Sturton p 11 Cwt is the abbreviation for hundredweight 18 cwt referring to the weight of the gun The American battleship New York may have sunk a submarine in October 1918 when she accidentally collided with what was suspected to be a submerged U boat That sinking has never been conclusively established however 56 References Edit Sturton pp 76 77 a b Preston p 18 a b c d Burt p 41 Brown David pp 180 182 Brown David p 182 Parkes p 451 Preston p 288 Brown David p 188 Brown David pp 183 184 Massie pp 470 471 474 Forczyk p 50 Brown David p 175 Brown David pp 186 189 190 Roberts pp 12 25 Brown David pp 186 190 Brown Paul p 24 Roberts p 13 a b c d Burt p 29 Roberts pp 14 86 87 a b c d Roberts p 28 a b Roberts p 25 a b Burt p 33 Johnson amp Buxton p 167 Roberts pp 15 16 24 26 Friedman pp 59 61 a b c Roberts pp 29 30 Roberts p 30 Friedman p 116 Roberts pp 30 31 a b c d Roberts p 31 Brooks p 48 Roberts pp 31 32 139 43 Archibald p 160 Johnson amp Buxton p 164 Brown Paul p 27 Mizokami Kyle 26 October 2016 A Brief History of All the Warships Called Dreadnought Popular Mechanics Retrieved 27 October 2016 If the name of Britain s next nuclear sub sounds old it s because it is very very old Dreadnought in Google Dictionary and Merriam Webster dictionaries a b Brown Paul p 25 The Battleships Part 1 ABC TV 2 July 2002 Johnson amp Buxton p 134 Johnson amp Buxton p 153 Johnson amp Buxton p 237 Parkes p 477 Roberts pp 13 16 Preston pp 21 22 Parkes p 479 Roberts p 17 Burt p 35 Roberts p 34 Roberts pp 18 20 The Dreadnought Hoax Museum of Hoaxes Retrieved 18 May 2010 Roberts pp 20 21 Roberts p 21 Weddigen Otto Eduard International Encyclopedia of the First World War WW1 encyclopedia 1914 1918 online net Retrieved 7 April 2021 Sturton p 79 Jones pp 66 67 Johnson amp Buxton p 306 Roberts pp 22 23 Gun tompion from HMS Dreadnought 1906 Europeana Collections Sturton p 11 New Successor Submarines Named Press release Gov uk 21 October 2016 Retrieved 21 October 2016 Dreadnought Story Martin Guitar Company Archived from the original on 26 February 2012 Retrieved 18 May 2010 Ewing Rachel 4 September 2014 Introducing Dreadnoughtus A Gigantic Exceptionally Complete Sauropod Dinosaur DrexelNow DrexelNow Drexel University Retrieved 24 April 2018 Sources EditArchibald E H H 1984 The Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy AD 897 1984 Poole UK Blandford Press ISBN 0 7137 1348 8 Blyth Robert J et al eds The Dreadnought and the Edwardian Age 2011 Brooks John 2005 Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland The Question of Fire Control Naval Policy and History Vol 32 Abingdon UK Routledge ISBN 0 415 40788 5 Brown David K 2003 1997 Warrior to Dreadnought Warship Development 1860 1905 London Caxton Editions ISBN 1 84067 529 2 Brown Paul January 2017 Building Dreadnought Ships Monthly 24 27 Burt R A 2012 1986 British Battleships of World War One Annapolis Maryland Naval Institute Press ISBN 978 1 59114 053 5 Forczyk Robert 2009 Russian Battleship vs Japanese Battleship Yellow Sea 1904 05 Long Island City New York Osprey ISBN 978 1 84603 330 8 Friedman Norman 2011 Naval Weapons of World War One Guns Torpedoes Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations An Illustrated Directory Barnsley UK Seaforth Publishing ISBN 978 1 84832 100 7 Gardiner Robert ed 1992 The Eclipse of the Big Gun The Warship 1906 45 Conway s History of the Ship London Conway Maritime Press ISBN 0 85177 607 8 Johnston Ian amp Buxton Ian 2013 The Battleship Builders Constructing and Arming British Capital Ships Annapolis Maryland Naval Institute Press ISBN 978 1 59114 027 6 Jones Jerry W 1995 U S Battleship Operations in World War I 1917 1918 Denton Texas University of North Texas OCLC 37111409 External video Booknotes interview with Robert Massie on Dreadnought Britain Germany and the Coming of the Great War 8 March 1992 C SPANMassie Robert K 1991 Dreadnought Britain Germany and the Coming of the Great War New York and Canada Random House ISBN 0 394 52833 6 Parkes Oscar 1990 1966 British Battleships Warrior1860 toVanguard1950 A History of Design Construction and Armament New amp rev ed Annapolis Maryland Naval Institute Press ISBN 1 55750 075 4 Preston Antony 1985 Great Britain and Empire Forces In Gray Randal ed Conway s All the World s Fighting Ships 1906 1921 Annapolis Maryland Naval Institute Press pp 1 104 ISBN 0 85177 245 5 Roberts John 2001 1992 The Battleship Dreadnought Anatomy of the Ship revised ed Annapolis Maryland Naval Institute Press ISBN 1 55750 057 6 Ross Angus April 2010 HMS Dreadnought 1906 A Naval Revolution Misinterpreted or Mishandled PDF The Northern Mariner XX 2 175 198 doi 10 25071 2561 5467 491 S2CID 247286659 Sturton Ian ed 2008 Conway s Battleships The Definitive Visual Reference to the World s All Big Gun Ships 2nd revised and expanded ed Annapolis Maryland Naval Institute Press ISBN 978 1 59114 132 7 Sumida Jon Tetsuro 1993 In Defense of Naval Supremacy Financial Limitation Technological Innovation and British Naval Policy 1889 1914 London Routledge ISBN 0 415 08674 4 OCLC 28909592 External links Edit Battleships portal United Kingdom portal Wikimedia Commons has media related to HMS Dreadnought ship 1906 Guide to the Dreadnought s distinctive 12 inch 305 mm guns Dreadnought Project s technical material on the weaponry and fire control of the ship United States Navy history page on Dreadnought Archived 27 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine History article with several period photographs Illustration of the contemporary naval arms race sparked by Dreadnought Maritimequest HMS Dreadnought photo gallery Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title HMS Dreadnought 1906 amp oldid 1138514683, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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