Super dreadnought launched – first of a new fleet of battle ships

In Portsmouth today, the SS Queen Elizabeth, a super dreadnought, was launched. The ship is equipped with 15 inch guns, and can fire a broadside of 7 tonnes of ammunition. The ship is also the first oil fired vessel in the Royal Navy fleet and can cruise at a top speed of 25 knots an hour. The advantage of the new dreadnought is that it demands less crew, needing only 700 sailors compared to the previous figure of just over 1,000. The cost of the new vessel is estimated at £2,350,000. 

If the new dreadnought is to be the future of Britain’s naval defence, then there seems little option that the budgetary cost of the navy to the treasury will have to increase.