1914, she was flagship of the 4th Battle Squadron in the North Sea, based at Scapa Flow. She was relieved as flagship on 10 December by . Ironically for a vessel designed to engage enemy battleships, her only significant action was the ramming and sinking of German submarine , skippered by K/Lt Otto Weddigen (of fame), in the Pentland Firth on 18 March 1915. U-29 had broken the surface immediately ahead of Dreadnought after firing a torpedo at Neptune, and Dreadnought cut the submarine in two after a short chase. She almost collided with who was also attempting to ram the submarine. Dreadnought thus became the only battleship ever to purposefully sink an enemy submarine. She was refitting at Portsmouth from 18 April–22 June 1916 and missed the Battle of Jutland on 31 May, the most significant fleet engagement of the war. Dreadnought became flagship of the 3rd Battle Squadron on 9 July, based at Sheerness on the Thames, part of a force of pre-dreadnoughts intended to counter the threat of shore bombardment by German battlecruisers. During this time, she fired her AA guns at German aircraft that passed over her headed for London. She returned to the Grand Fleet in March 1918, resuming her role as flagship of the 4th Battle Squadron, but was paid off on 7 August 1918 at Rosyth. She was recommissioned on 25 February 1919 as the tender Hercules to act as a parent ship for the Reserve. Dreadnought was put up for sale on 31 March 1920 and sold for scrap to Thos. W. Ward on 9 May 1921 as one of the 113 ships that the firm purchased at a flat rate of £2. 10/- per ton, later reduced to £2. 4/- per ton. As Dreadnought was assessed at 16,650 tons, she cost the shipbreaker £36,630 though another source states £44,750. She was broken up at Ward's new premises at Inverkeithing, Scotland, upon arrival on 2 January 1923. Very few artefacts from Dreadnought have survived, although a gun tompion is in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. Significance Her design so thoroughly eclipsed earlier types that subsequent battleships of all nations were generically known as "dreadnoughts" and older battleships as "pre-dreadnoughts". Her very short construction time was intended to demonstrate that Britain could build an unassailable lead in the new type of battleships. Her construction sparked a naval arms race, and soon all