Dreadnoughts

An Illustrated History

Gerald Toghill

• Publisher: Amberley Publishing
• Year: 2019
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• eBook ISBN:
  9781445686363
• Subtopic: Marine Transportation
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Two things made the battleship possible: the harnessing of steam for propulsion and Britain's vast industrial power in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. With these two massive powerhouses available to ship designers, it was inevitable that change would come to the seas. For a short while France led the way with the launching of the Gloire, but Britain soon stole the limelight with the launch of HMS Warrior in 1863. The moment her keel hit the water the naval world was turned upside down and all other warships were rendered obsolete. But that event was as nought compared to the astonishing revolution in warship building caused by the launch in 1906 of the mighty Dreadnought. If Warriorhad caused a great upheaval, the impact of Dreadnought was positively Krakatoan. Such was her impact on the naval world that her very name became generic. All battleships built before her were classed as 'pre-Dreadnought' and all battleships built post-1906 came to be known as 'Dreadnoughts'. This is their story.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Before the Dreadnought
• The Birth of Dreadnought
• Great Britain Leads the Way
• British Battlecruisers
• The First World War
• The Naval Treaties
• The Treaty’s Effect in Britain
• Post-Second World War – The Swansong!
• The First American Dreadnoughts
• Treaty Restricted Building in the United States
• Post-Treaty Building in the USA
• French Dreadnoughts
• Germany Enters the Dreadnought Race
• Battlecruisers of the German Navy
• Germany Prepares for Another Conflict
• ‘Dreadnought Fever’ Spreads to Japan
• Japan Rejects the Treaties
• Italy Joins the Club
• Dreadnoughts of the Minor Navies
• Post-Second World War
• Acknowledgements
• Bibliography