The History

HMS Dreadnought was the revolutionary "all big gun" battleship that gave her name to the whole style of ship that followed. 

Battleships that came before became known as pre-dreadnoughts. They typically carried two twin gun turrets for their main armament; one forward and one aft, 4 big guns in total. HMS Dreadnought was larger, carried 5 main gun turrets for a total of 10 big guns and also used new steam turbine engines. This meant that she was larger, faster and more heavily armed than any battleship that had come before.

With only one dreadnought type ship in the world at the start of 1907, the playing field was virtually level, and all the major naval powers launched into massive building programs. The designs got ever bigger and more powerful, and Dreadnought herself was soon surpassed by the newer generations of battleships.

For such a revolutionary ship, she had a quiet career. She spent the first part of it as the flagship of the Home Fleet, but was relieved of that position in 1911. During the First World War, she missed the Battle of Jutland due to refit. Her only significant action was when she rammed and sank the German submarine SM U-29 in 1915, the only instance of a submarine being sunk by a battleship.

She was sold for scrap in 1921.


The Build

Like my other ships, there's no interior on this one.

Unlike the Project Jutland ships which I left in plain iron all over, I've actually bothered to "paint" below the waterline on this one. I never liked the red wool for the underwater paint in my preferred textures, but I've recently realised that red stained clay works quite well.

For any of the British battleships and battlecruisers that followed Dreadnought, and also the German ships of the dreadnought arms race, see Project Jutland.




 
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