Dreadnought

Class of battleships built for the British navy after 1905 and far superior in speed and armaments to anything then afloat. The first modern battleship to be built, it was the basis of battleship design for more than 50 years. The first Dreadnought was launched in 1906, with armaments consisting entirely of big guns.

The German Nassau class was begun in 1907, and by 1914, the USA, France, Japan, and Austria-Hungary all had battleships of a similar class to the Dreadnought. German plans to build similar craft led to the naval race that contributed to Anglo-German antagonism and the origins of World War I.