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'''Battleship''' refers to a type of heavily-armored [[warship]] bearing the largest caliber of [[firearm|guns]] afloat, specifically those warships built between the 1890s through the 1940s.

'''Battleship''' is the name applied to very large, heavily-armoured warships bearing the largest guns afloat, and applied specifically to those ships built from the late 1800s through the mid-20th Century. Once considered the capital ship by the countries that could afford to build and deploy them, the battleship saw its heyday during the [[First World War]]; its subsequent weakness to aerial attack during [[World War II]] rendered it essentially obsolete.  

 

   

The sinking of the battleship [[Battleship Maine|U.S.S. Maine]], an American warship on a peaceful visit to Havana, Cuba, on February 15, 1898, seized American attention in the days leading to the [[Spanish-American War]], though it was never certain who or what caused the explosion.   

==Dreadnought==

==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]]  

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]]