Scale: not calculated. A nondescript model of the vessel that, more than any other changed the future of naval warfare. This is HMS ‘Dreadnought’ (1906) immediately prior to launching and fitting out at Portsmouth dockyard. 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). The launching cradle on which the model sits has wheels, indicating that it once had an accompanying slipway. 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.

‘Dreadnought’ was the best-armed and fastest battleship in the world when completed in 1906. 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only four big guns and an array of smaller weapons, ‘Dreadnought's’ ten big 12-inch guns made all other battleships out-of-date that were then afloat on the world’s oceans. Powered by new steam turbines she had a top speed of 21 knots, three knots faster than battleships with traditional piston engines. 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.

She was the flagship of the Fourth Battle Squadron at the time of the Battle of Jutland in 1916. On 29 March 1915 she rammed and sank the German U-boat, ‘U-29’, the only battleship ever to sink a submarine.