The launch of HMS Dreadllought in 1906 ushered in one of the most rapid periods of warship development in history, and only ten years after the world's first a11-big-gun, turbine-powered battleship was completed, two entire fleets of Dreadnoughts wouid meet in battle at ]utland, where the work of the prewar ship designers was to meet its ultimate test. David Brown examines the development of British warships up to 1914, the responses to the demands of the First World War, and finally how the lessons of wartime experience affected warship development in the immediate postwar periodo As well as the battleships and battlecruisers, for the first time the developmental history of smaller vessels such as minesweepers. monitors and escort vessels, built as direct responses lO wartime needs, is described, as is that of the submarine and the aircraft carrier. A detailed study is made of battle damage, including the role played by ammunition explosions in the loss of three British battlecruisers at ]utland. Also described are the postwar capitai ship designs, killed off by the Washington Treaty, which are among the most fascinating 'might have beens' of naval history. This major reference book is a comprehensive account of the design and deveiopment of the Royal Navy's ships hefore, during and after the First World War.