A heavily illustrated account of the evolution, design and deployment
of dreadnought battleships.
When HMS Dreadnought was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1906 this
revolutionary new class of big-gun iron-clad warship immediately changed
the face of naval warfare, rendering all other battleships worldwide
obsolete. The Admiralty realized that as soon as the ship was revealed
to the global naval community Britain would be a in race to stay ahead,
and so the first dreadnoughts were built in record time. While there
were those who regarded the vessel as a triumphant revolution in naval
design, the dreadnought initially had its critics, including those who
thought its slower, heavier guns left it vulnerable to the secondary
armament of other warships. Nevertheless, other countries, notably
Germany, and the United States soon began to lay down dreadnoughts. The
culmination of this arms race would be the confrontation of the British
and German fleets at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 - the greatest
clash of naval firepower in history. This book gives detailed insights
into the design, operation and combat history of these incredible
vessels.