Why build the dreadnought?

>>2269551
>Why would the British create a ship that would render the rest of their navy completely impotent?

Because it made every other major power's navies equally impotent. It also ruined WWI by making the Brits and the Germans too afraid of losing their battleships to use them in actual combat outside of long range snorefests like Jutland. Thank goodness the Nazis and Japs were absolute madmen.

>>2269573
Thanks for the respone, the only thing I don't understand is why they felt the need to reset their lead from having hundreds of competitive ships more than their rivals to only having one powerhouse of a ship? Didn't it make more sense to retain their lead in naval forces rather than close the gap with new technologies?

>>2269578
Because from 1890s to 1914 saw Naval technology changed at an incredibly fast pace, but until the Japo-Russian War the naval brass had no idea what would actually win in a pitched battle between two equally matched navies. The British built the Dreadnought because it might have given them the upper hand against the school of naval warfare that believed that large ships would be made obsolete by fast moving torpedo boats which would make a blockade impossible.
Then after the Japanese torpedo boats performed worse than expected in 1905 while their standard fleet destroyed the Russians at Tsushima and around Port Arthur, the British found they had backed the right horse. Either way was better than sitting around and doing nothing while everyone around you, especially Germany, was building up a cutting edge-navy.

>>2269594
OK, thanks so much for the responses. My late 19th century history is really spotty, so thanks for helping me understand that transition period.

>>2269551
Building the dreadnought didnt make their other ships impotent, they would only be impotent if they were fighting the dreadnought

They were still perfectly effective against everyone elses ships

>>2269551
Because everyone else was also looking into building all big gun ships so you might as well be the first to jump aboard that bandwagon and not waste any more time by building soon-to-be obsolete pre-dreads.

Well firstly the navy was not "obsolete" you still needed mine layers, destroyers and cruisers that fulfille tasks that were not suited or a waste for a dreadnaut to do it.

But ultimately it was because other great powers were investing in them and at the time period only other dreadnauts could counter dreadnauts. If the royal navy didnt build any, the german navy could have blasted their way through the blockage.

However, the dreads were only useful for a specific time frame as other tech made them largely inefficient.

I read some books on this subject once. I've forgotten everything I learned though. Just thought I'd mention this.