HMS Dreadnought was an ironclad turret ship built for the Royal Navy during the 1870s. Construction was halted less than a year after it began and she was redesigned to improve her stability and buoyancy. Upon completion in 1879, the ship was placed in reserve until she was commissioned in 1884 for service with the Mediterranean Fleet. Upon her return 10 years later, she became a coast guard ship in Ireland for two years. The ship then became a depot ship in 1897 before she was reclassified as a second-class battleship in 1900. Dreadnought participated in the annual fleet manoeuvres for the next two years before she became a training ship in 1902. The ship was taken out of service three years later and sold for scrap in 1908. Background and design Dreadnought was originally named Fury and was designed by the Director of Naval Construction (DNC), Sir Edward Reed, as an improved and enlarged version of the preceding turret ships. The ship was laid down, fully framed and partially plated up to the bottom of the waterline belt armour when work was ordered stopped in 1871 in light of the loss of the ironclad turret ship in a heavy storm the previous year. A Committee on Designs was formed in January 1871 to evaluate existing ship designs with special consideration as to their stability and buoyancy and found that the designs of Devastation and Fury were lacking in both qualities and needed to be modified. Reed had resigned before Captain was lost and he vehemently opposed the changes made by the new DNC, Nathaniel Barnaby and his assistant, William White, himself a future DNC. The main changes were to increase the beam by and widen Reed's armoured breastwork to cover the full width of the hull. This increased the ship's freeboard amidships which improved buoyancy and stability and provided additional, badly needed accommodation for the crew. In addition, the maximum thickness of the armour was increased from , it was extended all the way to the bow and reinforced the ram. Barnaby and White's initial plan was to extend the breastwork fore and aft, almost to the ends of the ship, but this was changed to run all the way to the ends after the results of 's sea trials in 1873–74 revealed that her low bow caused major problems in head seas. Other changes was the substitution of