Immediately prior to the first World War, Admiral Fisher of the Royal
Navy procured the HMS Dreadnought, the world's first all-big gun
battleship. The main armament was a relatively large number (10 I
believe) of identical large guns. Guns were to fire in salvoe (all
together) so that the fall of the shot could be easily observed, and the
aim corrected. Having all of the same type of gun made this much easier
(it is quite difficult to estimate which gun fired the shot based on the
size of the splash of a miss, at a range of several thousand yards).
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Here's a bit of trivia;
The construction of an "all big gun" capital ship had gone for a number
of years before the US Congress finally appropriated funds for the con-
struction of a ship of this type. This prompted the British to rush the
'Dreadnought' into service (only 17 months until it was launched!) so
that the Royal Navy would be first!
========================================================================
Because ships of this type could effectively engage targets at several
TIMES the effective range of earlier designs, the Dreadnought type of
battleship made all previous designs obsolete. Subsequent battleships
of this type where called "Dreadnought-Battleships" or simply
"Dreadnoughts".
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Actually the old pre-Dreadnoughts had guns that were just as big. How-
ever they only had 4 while the 'Dreadnought' had a broadside of 8.
=========================================================================
Admiral Fisher also had another idea: to take approximately the same
armament as a dreadnought-battleship and place it in a lighter, faster
hull. This was the battlecruiser. He reasoned that the improved speed
and maneuverability would allow the ship to avoid being hit; thereby
protecting it just as well as the armor of the slower battleship.
Subsequent events were to prove this theory wrong.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There've been numerous stories concerning the "real reason" (tm) that
Lord Fisher conceived the battlecruiser idea. The British had already
been designing cruiser "analogs" of their pre-dreadnoughts for years
before the 'Dreadnought' so the idea wasn't exactly so novel. Also, the
ships were originally assigned to Cruiser Squadrons. (The designation
'Battle Cruiser Squad' wasn't adopted until Jan '13.) The idea that
they could "outfight anything they couldn't outrun & outrun anything
they couldn't outfight" was valid as long as it was observed. The pro-
blem was that since they had the same armament as a 'real' battleship,
they were inevitably considered to be the same & were put into the line
of battle. This is what lead to diaster for them. BTW, the german BC's
were built much more ruggedly & proved capable of withstanding consid-
erable damage as shown by the 'Battle of Jutland'.
=======================================================================
During this time the predicted naval amrs race developed. In the
thirties, gun sizes increased to 15, 16, and 18 inches, armor
protection increased in thickness. The Americans developed the superfiring
turret (by changing the location of the signting and ranging equipment,
it became possible to mount turrets so that one set of guns fired over
the top of another turret). Such superfiring dreadnought battleships
became known (logically enough) as superdreadnoughts. During this time
the speed of the ships increased (better turbines and gearing systems,
more powerfull boilers, and better underwater hull designs) as well.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The first US 'Dreadnoughts' had superfiring turrets. I've heard that
the British didn't like the idea mainly because it raised the center
of gravity. They *did* eventually adopt the idea though. The US also
never went for wing turrets either. I always thought that the idea of
the "super-Dreadnought" was a reference to the BB's that were built
larger than the 35,000t (standard) diplacement treaty limit. Eventually,
it became little more than a popular label. Also, petroleum fueled boi-
lers had alot to do with the increase in speed achieved by 3rd generation
,& some 2nd generation, BB's. There was also the question of armor place-
ment theory as far as differences between the 'generations' are concerned
but I think I've rambled on long enough!
Phil Pugliese
[email removed]