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HMS Dreadnought
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Built in
1905-6 in Portsmouth, England, the
battleship HMS Dreadnought was the result of
a design overseen by the ‘Committee on
Designs’ which had been convened by the
First Sea Lord, Admiral
Sir John ‘Jacky’
Fisher. Fisher is credited with being the
father of the Dreadnought. HMS Dreadnought
was the first of the Royal Navy’s main
warships to be driven by steam turbines,
giving her a speed of 21 knots which, on
completion, made her the world’s fastest
battleship. Her battery of guns with a
uniform calibre also made HMS Dreadnought
different to other battleships of the time.
A complete class of warship was named after
HMS Dreadnought and all battleships that had
existed before her became known as
pre-Dreadnoughts.
Why
was HMS Dreadnought Built?
In the early 20th century a battleship with
similar calibre guns, as opposed to the
normal arrangement of a few large guns and a
lots of smaller guns, was becoming the
desired concept. This, coupled with the
additional speed that could be gained using
the new steam turbines, led the First Sea
Lord, Admiral Sir John ‘Jacky’ Fisher, to
order design studies that would incorporate
these advances. HMS Dreadnought was the
result.
When
and Where was HMS Dreadnought Built?
HMS Dreadnought was laid down on October
2, 1905, in HM Dockyard, Portsmouth. Fisher
had a target of completing the ship in a
year so, in an effort to reach this target,
a large amount of material had been stored
and around 6,000 man weeks had been spent in
manufacture before the keel had been laid.
The total cost of building the battleship HMS Dreadnought
was £1,785,683.
When was HMS Dreadnought
Launched?
HMS Dreadnought was launched on February
10, 1906, and christened by King Edward VII.
HMS Dreadnought began her initial sea trials
on October 3, 1906, under the command of her
first Captain, Reginald Bacon, and on
October 17 fired a broadside for the first
time. The battleship HMS Dreadnought was commissioned into
the Royal Navy on December 11, 1906.
How Big was HMS Dreadnought?
HMS Dreadnought was 527ft long ,
had a beam of 82ft 1in, displaced
18,120 long tons and had a deep load
draught of 29ft 7.5in. HMS
Dreadnought was powered by 18
Babcock and Wilcox boilers with 2
Parsons turbine sets driving 4
shafts and 4 three bladed
propellers. She had a top speed of
21 knots and carried a complement of
700 to 810 crew.
What Armor Protected HMS
Dreadnought?
Krupp Cemented Armour was the
main armor
used on HMS Dreadnought however Krupp non-cemented Armour was also used. The armor on
the Barettes varied from 4 to 11
inches as did the Belt armor. The
bulkheads were 8 inches, the Conning
Tower armor was 11 inches, the Deck was
0.75 to 3 inches and the Turret
armor
was 3 to 12 inches.
What Armament did HMS Dreadnought
Carry?
The heavy guns on HMS
Dreadnought were ten 12 inch guns
mounted in pairs within five gun
turrets. The one front and two rear
turrets were on the centreline of
the ship with the remaining two on
either side of the torpedo control
tower. This provided HMS Dreadnought
with the ability to fire a broadside
of eight guns. Twenty seven 12
pounder guns provided the secondary
armament. These guns were mounted on
the turret tops and superstructure.
Five 18 inch torpedo tubes completed
the armament, with two forward tubes and
three tubes at the rear.
The Shakedown Cruise of HMS
Dreadnought
In December 1906 HMS Dreadnought
headed for the Mediterranean Sea on her shakedown cruise. Having
called at Spain, Gibraltar and
Sardinia, HMS Dreadnought headed
across the Atlantic to Trinidad’s
Port of Spain before returning to
Portsmouth on March 23, 1907. HMS
Dreadnought achieved an average
speed of 17 knots during this cruise
and the problems that surfaced were
sorted out during the refits that
followed.
The Dreadnought Hoax
In 1910 HMS Dreadnought became
the target of a hoax. Irish
prankster Horace de Vere Cole
managed to persuade the Royal Navy
to allow a delegation of Abyssinian
royals to tour HMS Dreadnought. The
party were in fact friends of Cole,
disguised with black makeup and
costumes, and included author
Virginia Woolf with a fake beard.
HMS Dreadnought in the Home Fleet
HMS Dreadnought became flagship
of the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet in
1907 and continued in that role
until she was replaced, in 1911, by
HMS Neptune and was transferred to
the 1st Division of the Home Fleet
(later renamed the 1st Battle
Squadron). HMS Dreadnought took part
in the Coronation Fleet Review of
King George V in June 1911, and in 1912
she was transferred to the 4th
Battle Squadron where she became
flagship. HMS Dreadnought spent
September to December 1913 training
in the Mediterranean.
HMS Dreadnought and WW1
When WW1 broke out HMS
Dreadnought was the 4th Battle
Squadron’s flagship and based in
Scapa Flow. On December 10, 1914,
HMS Benbow replaced HMS Dreadnought
as flagship. On March 18, 1915, HMS
Dreadnought became the only
battleship to deliberately sink a
submarine when she cut in half the German
submarine SM U-29 in the Pentland Firth.
HMS Dreadnought missed the
Battle of Jutland in May 1916 as she
was undergoing a refit in Portsmouth
from April 18 to June 22, and on
July 9 HMS Dreadnought became the 3rd Battle
Squadron’s flagship and was based on
the Thames at Sheerness.
HMS Dreadnought Final Years
Returning to the Grand Fleet in
March 1918, HMS Dreadnought resumed
her role as flagship of the 4th
Battle Squadron. This was short
lived as HMS Dreadnought underwent
another refit in July 1918, and on
August 7 was put into the Reserve at
Devonport. On February 25, 1919, the
battleship HMS
Dreadnought was re-commissioned as
the tender Hercules and acted as a
parent ship for the Reserve.
Fate of HMS Dreadnought
HMS Dreadnought was put up for sale
on March 31, 1920, and on May 9,
1921, was sold for scrap to the
steel company Thos W Ward. HMS
Dreadnought was broken up after
arriving at Thos W Ward’s Inverkeithing premises, in Scotland,
on January 2, 1923.
HMS Dreadnought Specifications:
Class and Type: Dreadnought
Battleship
Complement: 700 to 910
Displacement: 18,120 long tons
Length: 527ft
(160.6m)
Beam: 82ft 1in (25.0m)
Draft: 29ft 7.5in (9.0m)
Power: 23,000 shp (17,000kW) 18
Babcock & Wilcox Boilers
Propulsion: 2 x twin Parsons
steam turbines, 4 shafts, 4 x 3
bladed propellers
Speed: 21 knots
Range: 6,620 nautical miles
Armament: 10 (5 x 2) 12 ins
(305mm) guns - 27 x 12 pounder
(76mm) guns - 5 x 18 ins (450mm)
torpedo tubes
Armour: Barbettes: 4 to 11 ins
(102 - 279mm) - Belt: 4 to 11 ins
(102 - 279mm) - Bulkheads: 8 ins
(203mm) - Conning Tower: 11 ins
(279mm) - Deck: .75 to 3 ins (19 -
76mm) - Turrets: 3 to 12 ins (76 -
305mm)
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