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HMS Dreadnought

Possibly the most famous Battleship ever made. The HMS Dreadnought was a revolutionary battleship and was famous for naming not a class of warships, but an entirely new kind of warship.

Short Bio:
HMS Dreadnought was the first all-big-gun battleship in the world. She originated in the ideas of First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher, who wanted a battleship that was faster, more powerful than any battleship that had preceded it.

Dreadnought was revolutionary because she dispensed with the until-then typical arrangment of Battleship armament of a couple of heavy guns (typically 4), of the 11-12 inch caliber, backed up by a smaller battery of 9-10 inch guns, and then followed by a small secondary battery of 3-5 inch guns. In Dreadnought, Fisher dispensed with the medium caliber 9-10 inch guns and went for a all-big gun arrangment of 10 12 inch guns, almost doubling the firepower available over previous British battleships. (Dreadnought had a broadside of 8 12 inch guns vs the previous Lord Nelson class' 4).

Dreadnought was also incredibly fast compared to previous warships because she was the first Capital ship to use steam turbines which could propel Dreadnought at speeds of up to 21 knots. (Compared with 18 in the Lord Nelsons).

Dreadnought was laid down on the 2 October, 1905 at HM's Dockyard, Portsmouth. Fisher saw to it that Dreadnought was built with an unprecedented speed, and she was launched on 10 February, 1906.

She was built in an unprecedented short time, and was commisioned into the fleet on 2 December, 1906.

During the pre-war years she was mainly used as the flagship of the British Home Fleet, until 1911 when she was replaced in that role by the newer dreadnought HMS Neptune.

She was a very prestigous ship, and a symbol of Brtiain's naval might.

At the beginning of World War I, Dreadnought was serving as flagship of the 4th Battle Squadron. She never saw action during the war, as she was undergoing refit.

After the war she was put in reserve, before being scrapped in 1923, a very unremarkable end for such a remarkable ship.

In Game Stats:
Armor:
Belt: 2 heavy armor blocks thick, tapering to 1 block at ends of ship and top and bottom of the belt.
Magazines: 1 heavy armor block thick sides
Armored Deck: 1 heavy armor block thick around magazines and machinery spaces 1 lightweight block thick elsewhere
Conning Tower: 1 heavy armor block thick sides

Speed: 21 knots

Armament:
5x2 12 inch guns
13x 3 inch guns

Length: 160 meters
Beam: 25 meters
Draught: 9 meters

note: I took some liberties on the number of 3 inch guns, as there wasnt enough room for all the guns, and I could not mount them on the turret roofs as they did historically. I apoligize for any inaccuracies, I was going for practicality and recreating the general characteristics and capablities of the ship rather than exact accuracy.