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years, and consequently to the previous generation of battleships (now called "pre-dreadnought") which resulted outdated with the apparition of the new capital ship.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 Because of this the HMS Dreadnought was irremediably outdated already at the outbreak of the First World War.

USS South Carolina battleship

American battleship USS SOUTH CAROLINA in 1918

Sao Paulo battleship

Brazilian (British) battleship SAO PAULO in 1917

Espaņa battleship Espaņa battleship

Spanish battleship ESPAŅA in 1913 and 1923

Agincourt battleship

British battleship AGINCOURT in 1915

HMS Dreadnought battleship

British battleship HMS DREADNOUGHT in 1914

Courbet battleship

French battleship COURBET in 1914

SMS Nassau battleship

German battleship SMS NASSAU circa 1918

SMS Konig battleship

German battleship SMS KONIG in 1916

SMS Prinz Eugen battleship

Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS PRINZ EUGEN in 1914

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