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For the Red Alert 3 Dreadnought, see Dreadnought (Red Alert 3). |
| “ | Close and fire! - Dreadnought |
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The Dreadnought is employed by the Soviets as a long range artillery ship during the Third World War and the Psychic Dominator Disaster.
Background[]
This massive ship carries twin tactical ballistic rockets which reload faster than conventional land-based V3s. It is intended as a naval siege unit, beside a floating command center. This gives them the equal role as the Allied Aircraft Carrier and the Boomer submarine. Dreadnoughts have thick armour and can inflict greater damage than Aircraft carriers, but with reduced accuracy and range.
In-game unit[]
The Dreadnought has little ability to defend itself from other ships and would fall to Allied Destroyers if not protected. Despite their heavy armour, they are still vulnerable to air strikes and coastal defenses should the Dreadnought venture close to shore. If there is a lot of anti-air defenses, its rockets can be shot down before they hit. The Dreadnought can, however, effectively attack ships (especially heavy ones like Aircraft Carriers or rogue Dreadnoughts). When destroyed, the missile may inflict damage in the area below it (a sign that the missiles are armed with a large fuel-air explosive).
In addition, the Dreadnought is also vulnerable to squids' entanglement. The Dreadnought's mass makes it hard to maneuver the waters.
Deployment History[]
A close-up picture taken of the V3 Launchers
Dreadnoughts played a major role in the initial invasion of the United States. They were used along with V3 Launchers to bombard coastal military bases and significant portions of New York City before the eyes of the Allied Commander and Tanya as they moved around New York City to defend it. Tanya quickly retaliated by sinking the Soviet Dreadnoughts in the harbor with C4 charges. They were also notoriously used in an attempt to demolish the Statue of Liberty, which was ironically accomplished by their land-based brethren, the V3 launchers. Other major battles in which Dreadnoughts played a significant role in were the Battle of Hawaii and the Invasion of Florida.
General Vladimir is known to use a specially upgraded Dreadnought. This type of Dreadnought stands taller than the original design and sports more communication devices. The ship was utilized as his command center before he moved inland (to the White House). Apart from its appearance and minor armour upgrades, this type of Dreadnought is not different from the base ship.
Assessment[]
Pros[]
- Strong siege weapon with incredibly long attack range.
- Quite durable.
- Attack does splash damage.
- Better firepower than the Aircraft Carrier and Boomer.
- Able to achieve veterancy unlike Aircraft Carrier.
- Extremely powerful when elite: Missiles will explode so violently that it may damage even nearby flying units and take down structures in one hit except defensive ones.
- Cheaper than Boomers and Aircraft Carriers if an Industrial Plant is constructed.
- Faster reload than the V3 Rocket Launcher, Boomer and Aircraft Carrier.
- Longer range and more powerful rockets than those of the V3 Rocket Launcher.
- Wins against the Aircraft Carrier in a one-on-one duel.
Cons[]
- Very slow-moving.
- Expensive ($2000) unless an Industrial Plant is built, in which case the cost will be reduced to $1500.
- Defenseless at close range, due to its large minimum range.
- Units armed with C4 Charges such as Navy SEALs and Tanya are a big threat to them.
- Rockets can be shot down by AA Defenses.
- Rockets move slowly, and are ineffective against fast units.
- Vulnerable to aircraft, destroyers, submarines and sea animals, especially Giant Squids.
Aftermath[]
The Dreadnought was redesigned by the time of the War of the Three Powers and was upgraded with abilities to increase rate of fire.
Selected Quotes[]
| “ | Ship reporting - When selected |
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| “ | Vessel ready - When selected |
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| “ | Yes Commander? - When selected |
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| “ | Captain confirming - When moving |
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| “ | Course set - When moving |
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| “ | Navigating - When moving |
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| “ | Engines engaged - When moving |
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| “ | Target sighted - When ordered to attack |
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| “ | Fire at will - When ordered to attack |
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| “ | Close and fire! - When ordered to attack |
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Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Cutscenes shows this ship being armed with tactical ballistic missile, however, their in-game behaviour indicates they are more akin to guided surface to surface subsonic cruise missiles.
- On the illustrations, dreadnoughts are also equipped with smaller missile launchers ahead of the main - probably anti-aircraft or anti-submarine - but they are unused in the game.
- The Dreadnought's lines are used by most Soviet naval units in the original Red Alert 2 (same for the Allied Destroyer's case).
- Early artwork for Red Alert 2 depicted the Dreadnought as being armed with a set of large triple-barrel gun turrets, similar in design to real-life battleships (and in turn, the old Allied Cruiser). This was possibly in reference to the planned Sovietzky Soyuz class Battleships in real life (which would have been Fast Battleships and not Dreadnoughts). The idea was scrapped, likely because the Red Alert 2 engine could not handle more than one turret.
- In real life, the Dreadnought refers to a generation of battleships that were largely in service during World War I. Many of them also survived to see service in WWII. They were big-gun capital ships.
- In real life, the Soviet Navy did use a class of large cruise missile-armed warship known as the Kirov class heavy atomic cruiser. They are still used by the Russian Navy today, although only one is active and three of them are in refit.
- In real life, the Soviet Navy once designed the Project 1080 missile cruiser, armed with the 200 9K72 "Elbrus" missiles (known also as SS-1 Scud-B). The project, developed in the 1970s, intended to create a ship that could effectively support amphibious operations by tactical strikes against ground targets at a distance of 500 km. The concept of this cruiser is almost identical to the concept of the in-game Dreadnought.
- It is possible that the Dreadnought is actually based on Vladimir's Dreadnought, rather than the opposite way around, because during Sub-Divide the ship is regarded as "the new Soviet Dreadnought", but Vladimir's ship is seen during Hostile Shore, a previous mission to Sub-Divide. However, regular Dreadnoughts are seen during the first Allied mission, Lone Guardian, and are in-fact the very first targets that the player destroys. It is possible that the development of the Dreadnought was faster during the Allied campaign and slower in the Soviet one.
- Luckily, unlike V3 Rockets, when a Dreadnought's rockets are destroyed in the air, it can possibly damage or kill aerial units nearby via its airborne explosions (even more powerful if elite). This can be used as an unconventional (or accidental) air unit deterrent, though this can only be done by enemies with anti-air, such as Rocketeers.
- In Brain Dead , if the player uses a Dreadnought to attack enemy structures near the cliff, rockets tend to miss and either hit the cliff or explode on locations much farther inland. In rare cases, rockets may even reach the southern end of the map.
- In the Russian version, the Dreadnought is called Neustrashimyy (Russian: Неустрашимый. English: Fearless). It is a clear oversight, since the word "dreadnought" generally translates into Russian as "бесстрашный" or "неустрашимый". However, when speaking of warship class, the word "дредноут" is used in every occasion.
