The 1st All big gun steam turbine battleshipĮarly in the century, the British were building powerful cruisers including an assortment of heavy guns in 6 turrets and more, such as the HMS Defence or the Minotaur class. These ships came to shine in the Russo-Japanese war, and also before in the 1898 Spanish-American war where these ships proved their effectiveness in combat.
Perfect hybrid, the concept joined speed (and other cruiser qualities) while still possessing potent weaponry (254mm guns), and enough armor to withstand heavy fire from other cruisers or even take older ironclads. However, new kind of ideas appeared in 1890 that seemed to find echoes: The armoured cruiser. The genesis of the Dreadnought deserves a book by itself, but it was clear conservatism in battleship designed ruled at the beginning of the century. Symmetrical, using coal, measuring from 110 to 135 meters long, 22 to 25m wide for 15,000 tonnes they could achieve on average 16 to 18 knots. Invariably, classic battleships had four 12-in (305 mm) in two twin turrets, fore and aft, and secondary guns of 203 or 254 mm (8-in, 9-in), then from 152, 120 to 106 mm (6, 5, 4-in), completed by smaller, faster guns to deal with torpedo boats, 76, 57, 47, 37 and 20 mm caliber, not to mention submarine torpedo tubes. There was of course only “battleships” until the, but the new pet project of Jackie Fisher made them all obsolete overnight. Then it was the invention of the Coles turrets, replacing guns ports and traversing batteries, the revolution in steam engines (triple expansion), turret instead of open barbettes, torpedo tubes, up to the standards of the “pre-dreadnought” battleship build by all major maritime Nations from 1890 to 1906. It was a revolution in naval warfare, such as the first all-iron ironclad, HMS Warrior in 1860. This ship indeed was the first to step up the battleship concept to a higher level. There was a “before” and an “after” Dreadnought. HMS Dreadnought in auld English “fear nothing”, is certainly one these vessels that changed history, creating a whole new class after its launch. Battleship – 1 built An historical landmark
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