'HMS Hindustan', 1911. HMS Hindustan was a King Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. Commissioned in mid 1905, she served with firstly the Atlantic Fleet and then the Channel Fleet. During WW1 'Hindustan' served in the Grand Fleet until April 1916. During sweeps by the fleet, she and her sister ships often steamed at the heads of divisions of the far more valuable dreadnoughts, where they could protect the dreadnoughts by watching for mines or by being the first to strike them.