Description
Book SynopsisThe Royal Navy''s battleships at the turn of the 20th century were the most powerful battlefleet in the world, and embodied one of the key periods in warship development - the development of the dreadnought battleship.The term ''pre-dreadnought'' was applied in retrospect, to describe the capital ships built during the decade and a half before the launch of HMS
Dreadnought in 1906. At that moment these once great warships were rendered obsolete. However, until then, they were simply called ''battleships' and were unquestionably the most powerful warships of their day. These mighty warships represented the cutting edge of naval technology. The ugly ducklings of the ironclad era had been transformed into beautiful swans, albeit deadly ones.In Britain, this period was dominated by Sir William White, the Navy''s Chief Constructor. Under his guidance the mastless battleships of the 1880s gave way to an altogether more elegant type of capital ship. The period of trial and error
Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT The era of experimentation White’s first battleships Second Class battleships The Spencer classes White’s last battleships The end of an era GUNS, STEAM AND STEEL Armament Propulsion Armour BATTLESHIPS IN ACTION FURTHER READING INDEX
