The Dreadnought is the name of a ship that to the untrained eye looks exactly like the Oriskani class of Heavy Battleship, but that is where the similarities end. The Dreadnought and the other 19 ships of his class were a failed attempt by Dr. Naughtern to gain time and produce a working ship two years prior to Admiral Owden. The resources originally specified for four more Oriskani class battleships, as well as four more  Scorpion class battlecruisers, and 8 more cruisers and destroyers.  These were used to produce the 20 Naughtern class battleships, including the Dreadnought.

Unfortunately, Dr. Naughtern prematurely oversold the capabilities of the Naughtern class, mainly the classes ability to be grown quickly. It was this time rush by Dr. Naughtern that doomed the class to failure specifically in the class's higher brain function. This oversight caused the ships to be unstable as well as have a problem with their experimental power generation system. After the accident with the Dreadnought, Admiral Owden ordered the line destroyed.

He was countermanned by the Emperor and the Naughtern class was placed in cold storage with the hope that someday fixes could be developed to salvage the class and all the resources that were put into their production.