![]() His visionary ship was also faster than its predecessors, as it relied on steam turbines for propulsion. Watts had a vision – the creation of a battle fleet of multi-turreted big gun battleships, capital ships that were larger and more powerful than any warship that had come before. Dreadnought was the brainchild of two men – the British First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John Fisher, and Sir Philip Watts, the Director of Naval Construction (DNC). Nothing more clearly demonstrates the revolutionary aspect of the Dreadnought than the fact that virtually overnight these earlier battleships were deemed antediluvian, and no longer worthy of a place in a modern battle fleet. ![]() They were referred to by the somewhat derogatory term ‘pre-dreadnoughts’. Following her completion in 1906 she not only became the most powerful warship in the world, but she also rendered all previous battleships obsolete. Only one combined that honour with the even greater one of having an era of naval history named after her. Fewer still were so revolutionary that they gave their name to a type of ship. BRITISH BATTLESHIPS 1914–18 (1) THE EARLY DREADNOUGHTS INTRODUCTION Few warships can lay claim to having changed the course of history. ![]() T Dreadnought t Bellerophon Class t St Vincent Class t Neptune t Colossus Class t Agincourt T Fire Control t The Main Battery t Protection T The Pre-Dreadnoughts t The Big Gun Battleship t Dreadnought t Rebuilding the Fleet t The Bellerophon Class t The St Vincent Class t Neptune t The Colossus Class t Agincourt ILLUSTRATED BY PAUL WRIGHT © Osprey Publishing ![]() BRITISH BATTLESHIPS 1914–18 (1) The Early Dreadnoughts
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