Dreadnought the Battleship that Shaped History
How Britain's Revolutionary Battleship Helped Cause World War One
In truth, it can’t be claimed that the aptly named Dreadnought was ever going to just another ship. The brainchild of the redoubtable British Admiral Jackie Fisher, First Sea Lord and head of the Royal Navy, she was designed to steal a march on other navies and make all existing battleships obsolete overnight. The three criteria for judging capital ships are speed, guns and armour, and Dreadnought outclassed her peers on every one. Her 10 x 12 inch guns made her the world’s first all-big gun battleship. She was longer - 527 feet - wider - 82 feet - and heavier - 17,900 tons - than any existing battleship, and featured thicker armour plus a host of design innovations. Equally important, her revolutionary turbines delivered 21 knots, a remarkable improvement on her contemporaries. In short, she could outfight and outrun every other ship afloat – including, incidentally, those in her own navy, whose previous large numerical advantage she wiped out at a stroke.
Dreadnough The 12 Month Battleship
Also remarkably for such an innovative and iconic vessel, the Dreadnought was built in just 12 months. This fact was instrumental in enabling Fisher’s monster to jump the gun on the US, who had a similar ship on the drawing board. In fact, she was such a landmark breakthrough that for a time she gave her name to an entire genre- for years every new capital ship would be classed as a ‘dreadnought’.
An impressive resume for a ship, then, but why did the Dreadnought change the world rather than just naval architecture? Well, in those days the battleship was undisputed master of the seas, and perhaps the key single criteria by which a nation’s military might was measured. Think modern nuclear submarine, but more so. Given this, such a significant innovation was sure to have a massive knock-on effect.
Britain's Century of Eminence Was Fading
Then one must look at the background to political events at the time. Britain had enjoyed an extended period of international eminence, a golden age that had lasted since the Congress of Vienna ended the Napoleonic era in 1815. However, by the turn of the century she was being seriously challenged for the first time. The rapidly developing German Empire was overhauling her in key industries such as chemicals and steel. Such industrial strength, combined with the martial Prussian culture that dominated the fledgling superpower, made her a serious threat even before she began harbouring global imperial ambitions to rival Britain’s own. Such aspirations inevitably led to plans to build a world-class navy, and expand a hitherto coastal force out of all recognition.
There was also the United States, similarly overhauling Britain in industrial strength and population, and also finding the need for a navy to reflect her newfound status. Nor did the list of rivals end there. Japan had her own naval ambitions, albeit ones temporarily neutralised by the Anglo-Japanese Naval Treaty of 1902. Ther was also Britain’s traditional foe the French, also brought into the fold by the entente cordiale, but for how long?
The Dreadnoughts Help Provoke World War One
In reality, launching the Dreadnought was like tossing a flaming firework into a smouldering bonfire. The Germans took the hint. Far from being cowed into silence they set about building their own version, and the Dreadnought race was on. Guns got bigger, ships got bigger, and faster. Indeed, even slim line, lightning fast versions of the Dreadnought appeared, known as battle cruisers. The eight years up to 1914 were to see the two navies acquire an amazing 50 dreadnoughts, with the British maintaining a lead of 31 to 19. This rivalry, the military/materiel culmination of the imperial ambitions of the protaganists, became a major contributory factor to the First World War. While Britain’s success in winning the dreadnought war, and keeping the numerically inferior Imperial German navy bottled up in harbour, was a key factor in the eventual allied victory.
A Chain of Events that Shaped the Modern World
Of course, the holocaust known as World War One, as well as causing the deaths of millions of combatants, also destroyed an entire civilisation. Furthermore, its unsatisfactory denouement made a second global conflict inevitable. The Second World War then begat the Cold War, thus shaping our own world until very recently.
Quite a chain of events to be partially triggered by one ship! Ironically, by the time the moment of truth came for the dreadnoughts, the climatic Battle of Jutland of 1916, the original vessel was considered too aged to even participate! She never fired a gun in real anger, and enjoyed a peaceful demise at the breakers’ yard in 1923.
For more information about HMS Dreadnought, click here.
What do you think about this article?
Comments
More in History
Latest Articles