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''Monitor'' would be the first major step in the development of the battleship from its sailing origins: fast for its size; well-armored; and most importantly a main battery encased in a revolving turret, which meant that the guns alone can be brought to bear on a target without turning the entire ship. Similar vessels would be built during the Civil War by the United States, and be quickly adopted by many of the world's navies, with the turret gaining size to mount larger and larger caliber guns as the ships themselves also increased in size.
''Monitor'' would be the first major step in the development of the battleship from its sailing origins: fast for its size; well-armored; and most importantly a main battery encased in a revolving turret, which meant that the guns alone can be brought to bear on a target without turning the entire ship. Similar vessels would be built during the Civil War by the United States, and be quickly adopted by many of the world's navies, with the turret gaining size to mount larger and larger caliber guns as the ships themselves also increased in size.
The strong competition among the great naval powers, above all Great Britain and France, brought forth numerous new inventions and improvements in the shipping industry during the era of industrialization. Many naval forces conducted internal competitions to find out the best and fastest crews on the guns and to study their behavior and approach to take on the training. In addition, it was discovered that the simultaneous firing of bursts of different calibers made it difficult for the fire control personnel to distinguish the impacts of the different guns. The technology made apparent during the American Civil War caused Britain and France - as well as other countries - to look at both armoring of hulls and installing turreted guns, which also made possible advances in larger gun calibers and the associated development of breech-loading, fire control, and ammunition handling and loading.
Between 1880 and 1900, almost all navies of the Great Powers, including Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Japan and the USA, built armored ships, whose displacement had increased to 16,000 tons. At best, these ships reached a top speed of about 18 knots, were about 400 to 425 feet long, and had a crew of about 600 to 880 men. Typical representatives of this phase of war shipbuilding were for example the Japanese ''Mikasa'' (1902), the British ''Majestic'' (1895) or the German ''Braunschweig'' (1902). Usually these ships had a main armament consisting of four heavy guns (in the caliber of 9 inches to 12 inches) in two turrets, and about a dozen middle casemate guns, the calibers of which varied between 4 to just over 6 inches. The American ''Kearsarge'' would mount what was essentially a "double" turret: one turret bearing a pair of 9-inch guns mounted on top of a primary turret bearing 12-inch guns. This design proved awkward; both gun turrets interfered with each other and the fire line proved to be difficult.
Improvements in drive technology also made it possible to replace the high-pressure piston engines by the substantially lower cost steam turbines, making the silhouette of the ships lower and thus making them more difficult to hit, and which also accelerated the speed of the ships to a maximum of 23 knots. But it would take a small, privately-constructed vessel - the ''Turbinia'' - to get the British Navy to adopt turbine power, especially after the embarrassment the small craft caused at the Spithead Navy Review review of 1897, weaving at high speed between two naval columns unchallenged and uncaught.
==Dreadnought==
==Dreadnought==
[[Image:H63596.jpg|right|200px|thumb|HMS ''Dreadnought'']]
[[Image:H63596.jpg|right|200px|thumb|HMS ''Dreadnought'']]
The decisive event in the history of the battleship was the launching of the ''Dreadnought'' by the British Royal Navy in 1906. Powered by turbines, the ships had no cluttered array of small-caliber weapons and concentrated all firepower around 13.5-inch guns. It had much better armor and speed than any competitor—it rendered obsolete all other navies and started a new naval arms race. In a departure from Britain's previous reactive response to innovation in naval technology, Admiral [[John Fisher]]'s (1841-1920) dreadnought policy introduced radically new capital ship designs, despite the technical risks inherent in their all-big-gun armament and turbine propulsion. Yet, early in 1905, Britain's strategic position was strong and improving further: only America was, rather slowly, working toward a small all-big-gun battleship, while Germany would not consider designs with more than four 11-inch guns until after news of ''Dreadnought'' was received. Fisher's policy had some successes, but some historians argue it was risky, insufficiently considered, based on inaccurate intelligence, and unnecessary.<ref>John Brooks, "'Dreadnought:' Blunder, or Stroke of Genius?" ''War in History'' 2007 14(2): 157-178, argues for blunder; in [[EBSCO]]
One of the most famous battles between these pre-dreadnought phase ships took place during the Russian-Japanese War in 1905. In the naval battle of Tsushima, the Japanese fleet defeated the Russian Pacific Squadron, causing the loss of most of the Russian ships. What was not lost upon British observers was the fact that it was a single caliber of big guns which decided the battle; the further reach of the Japanese 12-inch guns (the Russian ships had smaller sizes) meant they could choose the field of battle and safely stand off while hitting their targets with impunity.
The decisive event in the history of the battleship was the launching of the ''Dreadnought'' by the British Royal Navy in 1906. Powered by turbines, the ships had no cluttered array of small-caliber weapons and concentrated all firepower around 13.5-inch guns. It had much better armor and speed than any competitor — it rendered obsolete all other navies and started a new naval arms race. In a departure from Britain's previous reactive response to innovation in naval technology, Admiral [[John Fisher]]'s (1841-1920) dreadnought policy introduced radically new capital ship designs, despite the technical risks inherent in their all-big-gun armament and turbine propulsion. Yet, early in 1905, Britain's strategic position was strong and improving further: only America was, rather slowly, working toward a small all-big-gun battleship, while Germany would not consider designs with more than four 11-inch guns until after news of ''Dreadnought'' was received. Fisher's policy had some successes, but some historians argue it was risky, insufficiently considered, based on inaccurate intelligence, and unnecessary.<ref>John Brooks, "'Dreadnought:' Blunder, or Stroke of Genius?" ''War in History'' 2007 14(2): 157-178, argues for blunder; in [[EBSCO]]
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In the following years up to the First World War, the construction of these new large-scale combat ships caused some German-British naval antagonism. For example, twelve new battleships were built between 1908 and 1911, and nine dreadnoughts were taken into service in Great Britain alone in 1910. The other great powers, especially the USA and Japan, and in a weaker degree, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia, began their own constructions of capitol ships. Even smaller navies, such as the Brazilian (''Minas Geraes''-class), the Chilean (''Almirante Latorre''-class), or the Argentinian (''Rivadavia''-class), began with the introduction of dreadnought battleships. In all three cases the ships were commissioned abroad; ''Almirante Latorre'' for example was bought by Britain and commissioned as HMS ''Canada''. Budget constraints would also affect quality; the Spanish navy constructed the ''España''-class with its a heavy armament (eight 12-inch guns) but skimped on armor protection for the hull.
==World War I==
==World War I==