British Royal Navy . H M S Dreadnought showing how she is protected from torpedo attacks by torpedo nets . 1914 The HMS Dreadnought was a battleship of the British Royal Navy that revolutionised naval power when she entered service in 1906 . Dreadnought represented such a marked advance in naval technology that her name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships , the " dreadnoughts " , as well as the class of ships named after her , while the generation of ships she made obsolete became known as " pre - dreadnoughts " .