The Great War, WW1, began in August 1914. In 1906, HMS Dreadnought was completed and immediately made every other battleship in the world obsolete. Many nations then began to build or have built ships to rival or surpass Dreadnought and the word dreadnought was adopted to describe this new type of ship. The revolutionary design of Dreadnought included turbine engines which gave her a dependable speed well above existing BBs, all of her guns were 12 inch guns (except for a number of anti torpedo boat small guns) which simplified gunnery immensely and she was very well armored. The aircraft carrier, the type which superseded the battleship as the most important and powerful ship in navies in WW2 was not in service. At the outset of the war, August, 1914, which dreadnought in all the world's navies was the most powerful, taking into account guns, speed and protection? Remember, the ship chosen must have been completed no later than August, 1914!