HMS Dreadnought (1906)

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Career	Image:RN-White-Ensign.svg
Image:HMS Dreadnought 1906 H63367.jpg
Ordered:	1905
Laid down:	October 2, 1905
Launched:	February 10, 1906
Commissioned:	December 1906
Decommissioned:	1919
Fate:	Scrapped 1923
Specifications
Displacement:	18,420 t
Length:	527 ft oa x 82 ft x 26 ft (160 m x 25 m x 8 m )
Armour:	Belt: 4 to 11 inch (100 to 280 mm) midship, 2.5 inch (64 mm) at ends Deck: up to 3 inch (75 mm) Turrets: 11 inch (280 mm) Barbettes: up to 11 inch (280 mm) Conning tower: 11 inch (280 mm)
Armament:	Main: 10 x 12 in (305 mm) 45 cal (5×2) (one forward, two aft, two amidships), 27 x 12-pounder (4 inch/102 mm), 5 x 18 in (457 mm) submerged torpedo tubes
Propulsion:	Boilers: 18 Babcock & Wilcox 3 drum type Turbines: 4 Parsons geared steam turbines Power: 22,500 shp (17 MW) Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h) Bunkerage: 900/2,900 tons coal, 1,120 tons oil
Range:	6,620 nautical miles (12 260 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h), 4,910 nautical miles (9090 km) at 18.4 knots (34 km/h)
Complement:	695–773

The sixth HMS Dreadnought of the British Royal Navy was the first battleship to have a uniform main battery, rather than having a secondary battery of similar sized guns. She was also the first large warship to be powered by steam turbines, making her the fastest warship of her size. So advanced was Dreadnought that her name became a generic term for modern battleships, whilst the ships she made obsolete were known as "pre-dreadnoughts". Her introduction helped spark off a major naval arms race as navies around the world rushed to match her, particularly the Germans in the build up to the First World War.

1 Genesis
- 1.1 "All-big-gun" concepts
2 Technology
3 Construction and early years
4 Decline, The Great War
5 Significance
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

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Genesis

Existing battleship designs of the era typically mounted four large guns in twin turrets fore and aft, with a number of smaller guns lining the sides of the ship, in a fashion similar to earlier sail warships. Not only did this mask nearly half of the ship's guns at any one time (while turrets were free to either broadside), it also allowed water into the ship through the many gunports, a clear hazard in heavy sea. Furthermore, each calibre of gun had different ballistic properties, something which greatly complicated gunnery, especially when watching for splashes. The smaller-caliber guns would either have to hold fire to wait for the heavies, which had a longer "hang time" (so to speak), negating the faster firing rate advantages of the smaller calibers, or risk confusion between the splashes of the larger and smaller guns.

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 Turbinia with its speed of up to 34 knots (63 km/h) at the Spithead Navy Review in 1897. After further trials and construction of two turbine powered torpedo boats, HMS Viper and HMS Cobra, the Admiralty confirmed in 1905 that future Royal Navy vessels were to be turbine powered.

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"All-big-gun" concepts

The idea of "all-big-gun" warships, capable of firing powerful guns from a long distance seems to have emerged as the threat from torpedoes became more potent. The Italian naval architect Vittorio Cuniberti first articulated the concept of an all-big-gun battleship in 1903 (although Fisher claimed the idea had occurred to him since 1900). When the Italian Navy didn't pursue his ideas, Cuniberti wrote an article in Jane's propagating his concept. He proposed an "ideal" future British battleship of 17,000 tons, with a main battery of twelve 12-inch (30 cm) guns, 12-inch belt armor, and speed of 24 knots (44 km/h).

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Japanese development (1904-1905)

The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) provided operational experience to validate the concept. The Russian Navy was decisively defeated during the naval battles of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), especially at the Battle of Tsushima (May 1905), by the modern Imperial Japanese Navy, which was equipped with modern-era battleships, mostly of British design. The events of the battle confirmed to the world that only the biggest guns mattered in naval battles at that time. As secondary guns grew in size, spotting and discriminating between splashes of main and secondary guns became problematic. The Battle of Tsushima demonstrated that damage from the main guns was much greater than secondary guns. In addition, the battle demonstrated the practicality of gun battles beyond the range of secondary guns (12,000 yards / 11 km). The United States, Japan, and Britain all realized this and launched plans for all-big-gun ships.

Finally, the Imperial Japanese Navy's Satsuma was the first battleship in the world to be designed (1904) and laid down (15th May 1905) as an all-big-gun battleship, five months before the Dreadnought, although gun shortages only allowed her to be equipped with four of the twelve 12-inch (30 cm) guns that had been planned.

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American development

Influenced by William S. Sims, Americans also worked on an all-big gun design before Dreadnought: USS South Carolina and USS Michigan were presented to Congress in 1904. The Americans moved slowly, the ships were not authorised until the spring of 1905 and not laid down until the autumn of 1906, after Dreadnought. They deleted her wing turrets (intended to add weight to the broadside, they were instead masked on the opposite side), and thus avoided her obvious design flaw. Unlike Dreadnought, they used triple-expansion machinery, not turbines, a more conservative approach.

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British development

Britain, lead by Admiral Sir John "Jackie" Fisher, who became First Sea Lord in 1904, took the lead. Fisher's "Committee of Designs" which he assembled in December 1904 consisted of the Director of Naval Construction and other senior figures. This generated the design for Dreadnought. In order to have the new ships which he desired, Fisher had to make them financially attractive as well - showing that they would cost less to build and run than the current battlefleet. Dreadnought was laid down and assembled with unparalleled speed. She was completed, after a year and a day, in December 1906. Fisher had originally advocated a Royal Navy based around submarines and fast torpedo boats, and had subsequently tempered his revolutionary ideas with a vision of fast, all-big-gun battlecruisers, which would have the firepower and speed to engage battleships and cruisers, albeit with much less armour protection than the former. Fisher felt that speed was a better defence than armour. Although the battlecruiser concept would become popular in the run-up to World War I, Fisher was nonetheless forced by the Admiralty to create an all-big-gun battleship instead.

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Technology

The concept was simple, and had been a consideration among naval planners for a few years. Dreadnought would use steam turbines in place of the older triple-expansion engines that had powered almost all previous ships, with a design speed of a steady 21 knots (39 km/h). This would allow her to outrun any battleship afloat, and outgun any cruiser or torpedo boat able to catch her (making it impossible for them to close range and attack), in keeping with a well-known axiom. Submarines were largely ignored. Thus protected from smaller ships, lighter guns that would normally be placed along the sides of the ship to deal with them could be removed. This left considerably more room for only the largest of guns, which were placed on turrets on the main deck.

Dreadnought mounted five two-gun turrets. Three turrets were located conventionally along the centreline of the ship, with one fore and two aft, the latter pair separated by a sizeable gap. Two further (wing) turrets were located either side of the bridge superstructure. This effectively rendered the wing turrets useless in some circumstances. Dreadnought could, at most, deliver a broadside of eight guns, and fire eight guns abaft or six astern, in each case only in a narrow range of angles; in no case could she put the full weight of available fire, ten 12 inch (30 cm), on target. At the time of her design end-on fire was regarded, at the instigation of Jackie Fisher, as being of paramount importance over and above broadside fire. This design concept was perpetuated in the succeeding classes, and in the earlier battlecruiser classes. The Superdreadnoughts of the Orion class were the first capital ships of the Royal Navy to arrange all of the turrets along the ship's centreline, an arrangement which had been rejected for Dreadnought in order to minimise the supposed risk of concussion damage to the closely-packed turrets. This fear was unfounded and later battleships used a superimposed arrangement, with turrets arrayed in a stair-step arrangement on the centerline. Additional light guns were included for close-in defense but were not intended as offensive weapons.

The vessels which Dreadnought was expected to engage could only bring to bear four guns of similar size, plus a host of smaller weapons which would be kept at a safe stand-off distance by Dreadnought's shells. In effect, the Dreadnought's concept was equal to three or more battleships in "real" firepower during combat.

The use of a uniform main battery greatly simplified the task of adjusting fire in action. As all guns have the same ballistic characteristics, and all are pointed by a master director (and fired simultaneously by electrical means) the shells, if they miss their intended target, will fall in a cluster whose size is determined by random variations and whose center is subject to errors in aiming and other deterministic effects such as wind. If the shells are splashing beyond the target the adjustments are made to shorten the range, correspondingly, if the fire is too short the range is increased. If the target is "bracketed" then another round of fire is sent using the same aiming conditions, adjusted for ship speeds and course differences. For a given powder load, the adjustments are made by small elevation adjustments. By contrast, with differing gun characteristics it becomes difficult to determine which type of gun created which splashes. The building of Dreadnought coincided with improvements to fire control systems namely the central director system built by Frederic Dreyer.

Another major innovation was the elimination of longitudinal passageways between compartments below the main deck level. While doors connecting such compartments would always be closed during combat it was proven that these were a major weakness in the security of a ship; a collision during fleet exercises had earlier resulted in the sinking of a battle cruiser.

Finally, the typical crew arrangement, whereby enlisted personnel were housed in the forward part of the ship (the forecastle) and officers aft was reversed. Unlike sailing ships, which were controlled from the aft part of the ship, modern warships were controlled from the bridge, high and in the first quarter or third of the ship. By moving "officer's country" forward the ship's officers were closer to their command stations, while stokers and enginemen, now quartered aft, were also closer to their workplaces.

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Construction and early years

So convinced that construction of the design would be ordered, Fisher started stockpiling steel for use on the ship before a construction slip was even available. This proved a fortunate decision, as during the stockpiling phase a new hull shape was identified that would decrease drag, and therefore increase speed. Fisher, happy with the original 21 knot (39 km/h) speed, used up the additional performance by further increasing the weight of armor. The final design mounted 11 inches (279 mm) of armor on the sides and turrets, about 3 inches (76 mm) more than designs from only a year earlier. Construction finally started in October 1905, and she was launched by King Edward VII on 10 February 1906, after only four months on the ways. Dreadnought went to sea on October 3 1906, only a year and a day after construction started. The process had been sped up by using turrets originally designed for the Lord Nelson-class battleships which preceded her. The speed of Dreadnought's construction was almost as alarming to foreign navies as her technical capabilities.

Dreadnought was commissioned for trials in December 1906, and in January 1907 she sailed for the Mediterranean Sea and then to Port of Spain, Trinidad. Her engines and guns were given a thorough workout by Captain Sir Reginald Bacon. 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." The Royal Navy's next six battleships were built along essentially the same lines, although Dreadnought was to be a class of one. Returning to Portsmouth, Dreadnought became flagship of the Home Fleet between 1907 and 1912. As such she spent most of her time in home waters, with occasional cruises to Spain and the Mediterranean.

Her building, trials and early service were closely watched by the world's naval authorities. Her design so thoroughly eclipsed earlier types that subsequent battleships of all nations were generically known as "dreadnoughts" and previous ones disparaged as "pre-dreadnoughts". Her time of outright superiority was short, however. Dreadnought had originally been built to show other navies the futility of attempting to go toe-to-toe with the Royal Navy, but as in the past (see HMS Warrior for instance), the Navy underestimated the German fleet's desire to maintain parity. Her construction sparked off another naval arms race, and soon all major fleets were adding Dreadnought-like ships.

Dreadnought was quickly followed by six more almost identical ships, commencing with the Bellerophons, in which several design flaws were fixed.

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Decline, The Great War

From 1907–1912 Dreadnought served as flagship of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, as famous in its days as the Concorde supersonic airliner sixty years later. In 1910 it 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 the most prominent and visible symbol of Britain's naval might; but even by 1910 she was obsolescent.

As ever-faster designs were put into service, Dreadnought found herself increasingly outpaced, whilst her unusual turret arrangement had already been abandoned in favour of in-line turrets. Her lack of relative speed made her vulnerable to smaller craft again, and since the design ignored these as a factor, she was generally under armored for torpedo attacks. Smaller 12-pounder (76 mm) guns were added on top of the main turrets to fend off torpedo boats, and a system for anti-torpedo netting was added along the sides for protection while in port. These changes were not enough to convince the Admiralty she would be safe in the line of battle, with newer torpedo boats and submarines shadowing the battle fleets. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914 she was flagship of the Fourth Battle Squadron in the North Sea, based at Scapa Flow.

Ironically for a vessel designed to engage enemy battleships, her only significant action was the ramming and sinking of German submarine U-29 on 18 March 1915 — Dreadnought thus became the only battleship to ever sink a submarine. Withdrawn from the fleet because her low speed made it impossible to keep station, from May 1916 Dreadnought was flagship of the 3rd Battle Squadron, based at Sheerness on the Thames, part of a force intended to counter the threat of shore bombardment by prowling German battlecruisers. Dreadnought was undergoing a refit during the Battle of Jutland, and thus missed the Royal Navy's most famous engagement. She returned to the Grand Fleet from March to August 1918. By now in bad condition from constant patrols in the North Sea, she was put in reserve at Rosyth after the war. Dreadnought was paid off on 31 March 1920. She was sold to T. Ward & Company in 1922 and broken up at Inverness, Scotland, in 1923.

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Significance

When Britain commissioned her first nuclear submarine, in recognition of how things changed with her in service, she was named Dreadnought.

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References

Although the battleship is today sometimes spelled Dreadnaught, it was officially Dreadnought meaning "fear nothing".

Jane's Battleships of the 20th Century by Bernard Ireland (ISBN 0004709977); a general guide with several useful drawings, although quite limited in scope.
Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War by Robert Massie (ISBN 0224040928); a substantial book which deals mostly with the political situation which led to WW1, tensions between descendants of Queen Victoria, and the symbiotic relationship between First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill and First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher. Technical information concerning the battleship itself is limited to a single (although quite informative) chapter (28). The strategic and tactical employment of fleets of great warships in WW1 is well documented in the subsequent book by this author, Castles of Steel. Far less involved with the details of politics and more with personalities of commanders this report of naval actions and theaters may be of more interest to students of military history.

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