On this day 119 years ago, on February 10, 1906 (January 17, 1906), the first British battleship, HMS Dreadnought, was launched. On February 10, 1906, HMS Dreadnought, the largest warship in the world, was launched by the Royal Navy's Dreadnought. Construction of HMS Dreadnought began in October 1905 and cost $7.50 million to complete. The ship was powered by steam turbines and equipped with 10 heavy guns with a diameter of 12 inches. Its appearance was an indication that the conflict between Britain and Germany had reached a fever pitch, and each wanted to overwhelm the other in the naval arms race. Britain was an established imperialist. In the 20th century, it was implementing a "Greater Britain" plan to bring the countries of the world to its power. However, the German Empire, which was growing stronger, was also implementing a so-called "Greater Germany" or "Central European Empire" plan to include the countries of Central Europe and establish a huge German empire in Africa and the Pacific, directly threatening the British colonial interests. Under such circumstances, the naval arms race between the two countries became increasingly acute. According to statistics in 1905, the British had 65 ordinary armored ships at that time, and the Germans had 26. However, at that time, Germany was smoothly implementing a naval construction plan formulated by Admiral Tirpitz, and there was a great momentum to catch up. The launching of the dreadnoughts was an important measure in Britain's attempt to maintain its naval superiority. With such a leap in naval power, Germany was forced to admit that any plans to destabilize Britain's maritime hegemony would be hopeless. Of course, the development of the facts would never go as expected, and the German-built dreadnoughts soon appeared on the sea one after another.