Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s.

What's the difference between a Dreadnought and a pre-Dreadnought?

Dreadnought, by scrapping the secondary battery, was able to carry ten 12-inch (305 mm) guns rather than four. She could fire eight heavy guns broadside, as opposed to four from a pre-dreadnought; and six guns ahead, as opposed to two.

How long did it take to build a pre-Dreadnought?

They made her more reliable than previous ships, and able to sustain a higher speed for much longer. But there was something else, too. Dreadnought had been built in just one year - a demonstration of British military-industrial might at a time when major battleships generally took several years to build.