What is Battleship?
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}} [[File:HMS Dreadnought 1906 H61017.jpg|thumb|HMS Dreadnought]] A '''battleship''' is a kind of large [[warship]]. It has metal [[armour]] and has large (heavy [[caliber]]) [[gun]]s. Battleships are larger, better armed and armored than [[cruiser]]s and [[destroyer]]s. Battleships were mainly around from about 1880 to the 1940s, though some were still used as late as the [[Gulf War]] in 1991. For most of this time, battleships were the most powerful and most expensive kind of warship. Today some battleships are still around but these are [[museum]]s. In the 19th century, different countries tried to build bigger and better warships. One of the first ships with iron [[Armour|armor]] was called [[French ironclad Gloire|''Gloire'']], from 1859. This ship had both sails and a [[steam engine]] which drove a propellor, as well as guns the fired explosive shells. This was a kind of ship called an [[ironclad warship|ironclad]]. A few years later, ironclads were used in the [[American Civil War]]. Britain and France kept trying to build warships that were better than each other. Later in the 19th century other countries like [[Germany]], Russia, [[Japan]], Italy and the United States also built many battleships. Different countries used new inventions to make their ships more powerful, with things like [[steel]] armour, [[rifling|rifled]] guns, and better kinds of steam engine. By around 1890 people started to call their best ships 'battleships' instead of 'ironclads'. Many people, including many Admirals and politicians, thought battleships were very important. If there was a war, the country with the best battleships would win, by sinking the other side's navy and stopping them bringing food and goods into their country (called a [[blockade]]). But battleships were also very expensive, and other people thought it was better to spend the money on a better [[army]], or things like [[pension]]s for old people. In 1906, Britain made a new kind of battleship called HMS [[Dreadnought]]. Thou