The design of the HMS Dreadnought was so revolutionary that this ship gave name to the whole generation of battleships that
would be built during the following years, and consequently to the previous generation of battleships (now called "pre-dreadnought") which resulted
outdated with the apparition of the new capital ship. This one was fitted with a larger amount of main artillery, ten cannons in opposition to the four
cannons that were standard in previous designs, while the secondary battery was not included in the design; and also steam turbines, in opposition
to the traditional reciprocating engines based in pistons. This gave as result a battleship with much more firepower and more speed than any other
battleship existing in that time.
The increment in the number of main turrets added extra weight and required the new battleships to be built with larger hulls, which posed a
challenge regarding speed. The truth is that in the HMS Dreadnought the high speed was achieved not only by the introduction of turbine engines, but
as well at the expenses of armor, which being not deficient was somewhat below the standards found on previous battleships. The new battleships built
after the HMS Dreadnought improved the original formula by adopting three or four propellers to increase speed and superimposed turrets to reduce the
length of the hull, apart from new and more efficient superstructures and fire control stations. Because of this the HMS Dreadnought was irremediably
outdated already at the outbreak of the First World War.
American battleship USS SOUTH CAROLINA in 1918
Brazilian (British) battleship SAO PAULO in 1917
Spanish battleship ESPAŅA in 1913 and 1923
British battleship AGINCOURT in 1915
British battleship HMS DREADNOUGHT in 1914
French battleship COURBET in 1914
German battleship SMS NASSAU circa 1918
German battleship SMS KONIG in 1916
Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS PRINZ EUGEN in 1914
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