Several ships and one submarine of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
have borne the name HMS ''Dreadnought'' in the expectation that they would "dread nought", i.e. "fear nothing". The 1906 ship, which revolutionized battleship design, became one of the Royal Navy's most famous vessels; battleships built after her were referred to as '
dreadnought
The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...
s', and earlier battleships became known as
pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, protec ...
s.
* English ship ''Dreadnought'' (1553) was a 40-gun ship built in 1553.
* was a 41-gun ship launched in 1573, rebuilt in 1592 and 1614, then broken up in 1648.
* was a 52-gun
third-rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...
ship of the line launched in 1654 as the ''Torrington'' for the
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execu ...
Navy, renamed ''Dreadnought'' at the Restoration in 1660, and lost in 1690.
* was a 60-gun
fourth-rate
In 1603 all English warships with a compliment of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers a six tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided i ...
ship of the line launched in 1691, rebuilt in 1706 and broken up 1748.
* was a 60-gun ship of the line built at Portsmouth
* was a 60-gun fourth rate launched in 1742 and sold 1784.
* was a 98-gun
second rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...
launched in 1801, converted to a hospital ship in 1827, and broken up 1857.
* was a hospital ship, formerly HMS ''Caledonia''.
* was a
battleship launched in 1875 and hulked in 1903, then sold in 1908.
* was a revolutionary battleship, launched in 1906 and sold for breakup in 1921.
* was the UK's first nuclear-powered submarine, launched in 1960 and decommissioned in 1980.
* will be the first of the UK's new ballistic missile submarines.
Battle honours
*
Armada, 1588
*
Cadiz, 1596
*
Lowestoft, 1665
*
Four Days' Battle
The Four Days' Battle, also known as the Four Days' Fight in some English sources and as Vierdaagse Zeeslag in Dutch, was a naval battle of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Fought from 1 June to 4 June 1666 in the Julian or Old Style calendar that w ...
, 1666
*
Orfordness
Orford Ness is a cuspate foreland shingle spit on the Suffolk coast in Great Britain, linked to the mainland at Aldeburgh and stretching along the coast to Orford and down to North Weir Point, opposite Shingle Street. It is divided from the m ...
, 1666
*
Sole Bay, 1672
*
Schooneveld
The Schooneveld is a shallow basin at the mouth of the Scheldt river, near the island of Walcheren, off the coast of the Netherlands. It runs parallel to the continental coast, narrowing from the southwest to the northeast, bounded by the irregula ...
, 1673
*
Texel
Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...
, 1673
*
Barfleur
Barfleur () is a commune and fishing village in Manche, Normandy, northwestern France.
History
During the Middle Ages, Barfleur was one of the chief ports of embarkation for England.
* 1066: A large medallion fixed to a rock in the harbour ...
, 1692
*
Passero, 1718
*
Cape Francois, 1757
*
Trafalgar, 1805
See also
*''Dreadnought'' was a gunboat that the garrison at Gibraltar launched in June 1782 during the
Great Siege of Gibraltar. She was one of 12. Each was armed with an 18-pounder gun, and received a crew of 21 men drawn from Royal Navy vessels stationed at Gibraltar. provided ''Dreadnought''s crew.
[Drinkwater (1905), p.246.]
*''Dreadnought'' was a gunboat operating in North American waters in 1813. On 6 November 1813 she captured the schooners ''Polly'' and ''Cyrus''.
Citations
References
*Boniface, Patrick (2003) ''Dreadnought: Britain's First Nuclear Powered Submarine''. (Periscope Publishing).
*Drinkwater, John (1905) ''A History of the Siege of Gibraltar, 1779-1783: With a Description and Account of that Garrison from the Earliest Times''. (J. Murray).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dreadnought, Hms
Royal Navy ship names