| Bit of a race between the Brits and the US for the first dreadnought. Prior to 1900, most ship battles were a relatively close quarter affair but a battle between the Russians & Japanes in 1905 proved the value of long distance guns. The battleships up to that time generally had only four batteries but the dreadnought design had 10 12'' guns. It was basically just a bigger, faster and meaner battleship.
I think the first Dreadnought was the British HMS Invincible built in 1905(?) but others may know more.
By the start of the war, the battlecruiser was in production which was faster again and had 8 x 15" guns. The first of those was either the HMS Queen Elizabeth or the HMS Warspite.
Austria, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US all built various versions of the dreadnought. |