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The Russo/Japanese naval war of 1904/1905 showed the battleships main 12-inch guns caused more damage with one hit than several hits from their secondary smaller guns. Also, it was hard to get the range calculated with different sizes of guns, as splashes from their shells were hard to tell apart. With a few countries beginning to design all big gun battleships, Britain rushed through their design, this seeing Dreadnought become the first of these innovative warships to enter service.

Dreadnought was the first large ship to be fitted with steam turbine engines. As turbines had fewer vibrations than the older style piston engines, they improved the accuracy of guns on warships. This new design was so far advanced from previous battleships, countries around the world were forced to build their own Dreadnought’s. During World War One, Dreadnought missed the battle of Jutland as she had been transferred from the British main fleet to the 3rd Battle Squadron based at the Thames Estuary/London. Missing Jutland meant Dreadnought would never get the chance to fire her guns at another ship. The main reason for this being, German warships rarely left port after Jutland. Her moment of glory came when she rammed and sunk the German submarine U-29. That U-boat had been responsible for sinking the British cruisers Aboukir, Cressy, Houg and Hawke. Within a decade of entering service, the arrival of larger battleships made Dreadnought obsolete. She was decommissioned in July 1918 and scrapped in 1922.