|
 |
 |
The Dreadnoughts were the forerunner of the great World War II battleships.
The Dreadnoughts were huge battleships built to hold big guns. The first
Dreadnought built was the
H.M.S. Dreadnought. It
displaced 17,900 tons of water and could hold an armament of ten
fifteen-inch guns (with a broadside of eight). This was six more guns
than the pre-Dreadnought battleships. Due to the many guns, the
H.M.S. Dreadnought made every other ship in the world obsolete. Then, an arms race with hostile intent began between Great Britain and
Germany. The British built nine different classes of Dreadnoughts, and
the Germans built five classes. |
|
The Dreadnoughts had a critical design flaw, something that the British had
failed to notice. One of the turrets was poorly designed leaving an
opening where a shell could hit and explode the live shells. As
Admiral David Beatty said, "There
seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships..." |
|
The British Dreadnoughts were so well-built and so good at fighting, that
they were used later when World War II broke out. In fact, the
Dreadnought-class warships were the first to make long-range ship-to-ship
warfare the norm in battle. However, like all battleships, Dreadnoughts would loose their effectiveness as a weapon with the
introduction of the newest weapon, the aircraft carrier. |
|
Dreadnoughts did not perform to their full potential during World War One
because of the German dependency on the newly invented
U-boat. These
U-boats were partially responsible for the loss of thirteen British
battleships. The Dreadnought protected the British interests in the
surrounding seas. It was partly responsible for the inability of the Central Powers to go to
the sea. Thanks to the Dreadnoughts, the war was less bloody for both
Allied and Central Power sailors. |
