Several ships and one submarine of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 have borne the name HMS

Her Majesty's Ship

Her or His Majesty's Ship is the ship prefix used for ships of the navy in some monarchies, either formally or informally.-HMS:* In the British Royal Navy, it refers to the king or queen of the United Kingdom as appropriate at the time...

 Dreadnought in the expectation that they would "dread nought", i.e. "fear nothing, but God". The 1906 ship was one of the Royal Navy's most famous vessels, battleships built after her were referred to as 'dreadnought

Dreadnought

The dreadnought was the predominant type of 20th-century battleship. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts...

s', and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnought

Pre-dreadnought

Pre-dreadnought battleship is the general term for all of the types of sea-going battleships built between the mid-1890s and 1905. Pre-dreadnoughts replaced the ironclad warships of the 1870s and 1880s...

s.

• Dreadnought was a 40-gun built in 1553.
• Dreadnought was a 41-gun ship launched in 1573, rebuilt in 1592 and 1614, then broken up in 1648. was a 52-gun third rate. This ship of the line
  Ship of the line
  A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
  
   was launched in 1654 as the Torrington for the Commonwealth of England
  Commonwealth of England
  The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
  
   Navy, renamed HMS Dreadnought at the Restoration in 1660, and lost in 1690. was a 60-gun fourth rate. This ship of the line was launched in 1691, rebuilt in 1706 and broken up 1748. was a 60-gun fourth rate launched in 1742 and sold 1784. was a 98-gun second rate launched in 1801, converted to a hospital ship in 1827, and broken up 1857. was a battleship
  Battleship
  A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
  
  launched in 1875 and hulked in 1903, then sold in 1908. was a revolutionary battleship, launched in 1906 and sold for breakup in 1921. was the UK's first nuclear-powered submarine, launched in 1960 and decommissioned in 1980.

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