 The HMS Illustrious, an example of a pre-dreadnought battleship launched 1896 The term pre-dreadnought refers to a battleship designed and built between 1890 and the 1906 construction of HMS Dreadnought for the British Royal Navy under the influence of First Sea Lord Fisher in 1906.
A classic example of pre-dreadnought was the Royal Navy's Royal Sovereign class. They were characterized by having a main battery of (typically) four 12-inch guns in two turrets, one fore and one aft, an intermediate battery of a number of guns in the 8- to 10-inch range placed in the superstructure, and a tertiary battery of light, rapid-fire guns for torpedo boat defence. No sailing rig was fitted to pre-dreadnoughts, they were powered by triple-expansion steam engines. In practice it proved difficult to differentiate between the shell splashes from the main and intermediate batteries, and this made fire control problematic. The solution to this was to get rid of the intermediate battery altogether and have a bigger main battery.
The Dreadnought introduced the concept of the all big-gun battleship, mounting up to 12 large calibre guns. This design made all earlier battleships obsolete overnight - hence the slightly derogatory term "pre-dreadnoughts" for these older battleship, while new "all big gun" designs were termed "dreadnoughts". HMS Dreadnought also introduced the steam turbine into battleship design, in its way this was as revolutionary as the gun layout.
Given the long time it takes to build a major warship, a number of instantly obsolete pre-dreadnoughts entered service even after 1906. This technological advance effectively negated the Royal Navy's huge numerical superiority and allowed the German Navy to begin construction of a modern battle fleet on level terms with the British.
Pre-dreadnought battleships saw service during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, notably at the battle of Tsushima. During World War I the remaining pre-dreadnoughts were generally used for second-line tasks such as convoy escort and shore bombardment (notably during the Gallipoli campaign where a number were lost to submarine attack), although a small squadron of German ones were present at the battle of Jutland in 1916.
After World War One most pre-dreadnoughts were broken up along with many dreadnoughts. Germany was allowed to keep two in service for coast defence duties under the terms of the Versailles treaty and these soldiered on into World War II. Greece also had a pair of ex-US Navy ones in service at the time, they were obliterated in due course when Germany invaded her in 1941.
The only pre-dreadnought preserved today is the Japanese Navy's flagship at Tsushima, Mikasa, in Yokohama.
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