British Battleship Classes of the First World War

Introduction
Pre-Dreadnoughts
Dreadnoughts

Introduction

The Royal Navy’s battle fleet in 1914 could be divided into two very distinct types of battleship. In 1905 Great Britain had had a fleet of fifty modern first class battleships, most capable of reaching 18 knots and carrying four 12in guns, with the most recent ships adding 9.2in guns to the mix.

In 1906 the completion of the Dreadnaught made that fleet effectively obsolete. The powerful Lord Nelson class ships would be obsolescent even before they had been completed. The Dreadnaught was bigger, faster and better armed than any other battleship then in existence. Her turbine engines meant she could reach 21kts while her ten 12in guns gave her the firepower of two and a half pre-dreadnaughts.

Every existing battleship became a pre-dreadnought, every new ship would be a dreadnought or super-dreadnought. The same would be true for every other country with a powerful navy, many of whom had been working on similar ships before the Dreadnaught was completed. The transformation was just as complete as that triggered by the appearance of the ironclad warship during the 1860s.
 
The resulting dreadnaught race played a significant role in increasing the tension between Britain and Germany in the years before the First World War. When that war finally broke out the massive fleets of dreadnaughts produced disappointing results. They were simply too large, too expensive and increasingly too vulnerable to cheap weapons such as the mine or the torpedo to be risked without a good cause. The only real clash between the British and German battle fleets, the battle of Jutland, was an inconclusive clash that satisfied nobody.

Pre-Dreadnoughts

Dreadnoughts

Books on the First World War | Subject Index: First World War

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