††††In 1905, the Japanese Navy defeated the Russian fleet at the sea battle of Tsushima. Hits were scored at ranges of 13,000 metres. The answer had to be thicker armour, bigger guns and greater speed. The first ship to meet these needs was the British HMS Dreadnought, built in 1906. She was turbine-powered and capable of 21 knots. Her five turrets mounted ten 12-inch (30 centimetre) guns. Dreadnought made every other ship out of date. For a while battleships like the Dreadnought were the pride of the world's navies, despite the growing threat from submarines.
In 1916 the British Navy took over a half-built liner and completed her as HMS Argus, the world's first aircraft carrier. Today the largest and most important warships are still aircraft carriers.
