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 ' dreadnoughts', and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts. On 29 March 1915 she rammed and sank the German U-boat, ‘U-29’, the only battleship ever to sink a submarine.Several ships and one submarine of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Dreadnought in the expectation that they would 'dread nought', i.e. She was the flagship of the Fourth Battle Squadron at the time of the Battle of Jutland in 1916. The design was the brainchild of Admiral Sir John ‘Jackie’ Fisher, who became First Sea Lord in 1904, and her name became the generic word for a new generation of battleships. Powered by new steam turbines she had a top speed of 21 knots, three knots faster than battleships with traditional piston engines. At a time when battleships usually mounted only four big guns and an array of smaller weapons, ‘Dreadnought's’ ten big 12-inch guns made all other battleships out-of-date that were then afloat on the world’s oceans. ‘Dreadnought’ was the best-armed and fastest battleship in the world when completed in 1906. The vessel herself was named after a second-rate, 98-gun ship that served at the Battle of Trafalgar, and her launch signaled a revolution in naval warfare. The launching cradle on which the model sits has wheels, indicating that it once had an accompanying slipway. The model is flying a set of launch flags: union (at the bow), Admiralty (forward), Royal Standard (amidships), and White Ensign (aft and at the stern). This is HMS ‘Dreadnought’ (1906) immediately prior to launching and fitting out at Portsmouth dockyard. A nondescript model of the vessel that, more than any other changed the future of naval warfare.

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