In other countries

Compared to the other major naval powers, France was slow to start building dreadnoughts, instead finishing the planned Danton class of pre-dreadnoughts, laying down five in 1907 and 1908. It was not until September 1910 that the first of the Courbet class was laid down, making France the eleventh nation to enter the dreadnought race.[108] In the Navy Estimates of 1911, Paul Bénazet asserted that over the period of 1896 to 1911, France dropped from being the world’s second-largest naval power to fourth; he attributed this to problems in maintenance routines and neglect.[109] However, the closer alliance with the United Kingdom made these reduced forces more than adequate for French needs.[108]

The Italian navy had received proposals for an all-big-gun battleship from Cuniberti well before Dreadnought was launched, but it took until 1909 for Italy to lay down one of her own. The construction of Dante Alighieri was prompted by rumours of Austro-Hungarian dreadnought building. A further five dreadnoughts of the Cavour class and Andrea Doria class followed as Italy sought to maintain its lead over Austria-Hungary. These ships remained the core of Italian naval strength until World War II. The subsequent Caracciolo class were cancelled on the outbreak of World War I.[110]

In January 1909, Austro-Hungarian admirals circulated a document calling for a fleet of four dreadnoughts. However, a constitutional crisis in 1909–10 meant no construction could be approved. In spite of this, two dreadnoughts were laid down by shipyards on a speculative basis – due especially to the energetic manipulations of Rudolf Montecuccoli, Chief of the Austro-Hungarian Navy – and later approved along with an additional two. The resulting ships, all Tegetthoff class, were to be accompanied by a further four ships, but these were cancelled on the outbreak of World War I[111].

In June 1909, the Imperial Russian Navy began construction of four Gangut class dreadnoughts for the Baltic Fleet, and in October 1911, three more Imperatritsa Mariya class dreadnoughts for the Black Sea were laid down. Of seven ships, only one was completed within four years of being laid down, and the Gangut ships were “obsolescent and outclassed” upon commissioning.[112][113] Taking lessons from Tsushima, and influenced by Cuniberti, they ended up more closely resembling slower versions of Fisher’s battlecruisers than Dreadnought, and they proved badly flawed due to their smaller guns and thinner armor when compared with contemporary dreadnoughts.[112][114]

Spain commissioned three ships of the España class, with the first being laid down in 1909. The three ships were the smallest dreadnoughts ever built. While built in Spain, the construction was reliant on British assistance; for example, construction on the third ship, Jaime I, took nine years from her laying down date to completion because of non-delivery of critical material, especially armament, from the United Kingdom.[115][116]
Brazil’s Minas Geraes at sea in early 1910, soon after her commissioning

Brazil was the third country to begin construction on a dreadnought.[117] Although three pre-dreadnoughts had been ordered from the United Kingdom, construction was halted in favor of a much improved design[118]—new plans called for a dreadnought mounting a heavier main battery than any other battleship afloat at the time (twelve 12 in (30 cm)/45 caliber guns).[119] Minas Geraes was laid down on by Armstrong (Elswick) on 17 April 1907, and her sister, São Paulo, followed thirteen days later at Vickers (Barrow).[120] Although many naval journals in Europe and the US speculated that the ships were really acting as a proxy for one of the naval powers and would hand the ships over to them as soon as they were complete, both ships were commissioned into the Brazilian Navy in 1910;[119][120] the US commissioned the first South Carolina, Michigan, on 4 January, just one day before Minas Geraes.[121][122][123]

The Netherlands intended by 1912 to replace its fleet of pre-dreadnought armored ships with a modern fleet composed of dreadnoughts. After a Royal Commission proposed the purchase of nine dreadnoughts in August 1913, there were extensive debates over the need for such ships and, if they were necessary, the actual number needed. These lasted into August 1914, when a bill authorizing funding for four dreadnoughts was finalized, but the outbreak of World War I halted the ambitious plan.[124][125]

Turkey ordered two dreadnoughts from British yards, which were seized by the British on the outbreak of World War I, in order to reinforce the Royal Navy and prevent the ships falling into enemy hands. The ships Reshadiye and Sultan Osman I became HMS Erin and Agincourt (1913) respectively. The seizure of the ships was followed by Germany’s gift to Turkey of two warships, the battlecruiser SMS Goeben and the cruiser SMS Breslau. This became an important factor in the decision of the Ottoman Empire to join the Central Powers.[126]

Greece had ordered a dreadnought from Germany, but work stopped on the outbreak of war. The main armament for the Greek ship had been ordered in the United States, and the guns consequently equipped a class of British monitors. Greece in 1914 purchased two pre-dreadnoughts from the United States Navy, renaming them Kilkis and Limnos in Royal Hellenic Navy service.[127]