Successive designs increased rapidly in size and made use of improvements in armament, armour, and propulsion throughout the dreadnought era. Dreadnought races sprang up around the world, including in South America, lasting up to the beginning of World War I. As dreadnoughts became a crucial symbol of national power, the arrival of these new warships renewed the naval arms race between the United Kingdom and Germany. Her design had two revolutionary features: an 'all-big-gun' armament scheme, with an unprecedented number of heavy-calibre guns, and steam turbine propulsion. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's HMS Dreadnought, had such an effect when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as 'dreadnoughts', and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts. The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. USS Texas, the only dreadnought still in existence, was launched in 1912 and is now a museum ship

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