The XIX century changed the navies of the world, completely revolutionizing the way ships were built. Steam-propelled ironclads protected by steel armour plates took the place of wooden sailing ships that had been used all over the world for centuries. Rapid technological advancements in the fields of communication and military engineering propelled colonial empires into the age of the never-ending naval arms race — and in 1906 the rules of the game changed once again, as the British Royal Navy launched a revolutionary new flagship — the HMS Dreadnought, creating a new class of warships called dreadnought battleships.