HMS Agincourt was a
dreadnought battleship built in the United Kingdom in the early 1910s. Originally part of Brazil's role in a
South American naval arms race, she held the distinction of mounting more heavy guns (fourteen) and more
turrets (seven) than any other dreadnought battleship, in keeping with the Brazilians' requirement for an especially impressive design.
Brazil ordered the ship in 1911 as
Rio de Janeiro from the British company
Armstrong Whitworth. However, the collapse of Brazil's
rubber boom and a warming in relations with Argentina, the country's chief rival, led to the ship's sale while under construction to the
Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans renamed her
Sultan Osman I, after the
empire's founder, and the ship was nearly complete when
World War Ibroke out. The British government seized her for use by the
Royal Navy, together with
another Ottoman dreadnought being constructed in Britain. This act caused resentment in the Ottoman Empire, as the payments for both ships were complete, and contributed to the decision of the Ottoman government to join the
Central Powers.
Renamed HMS
Agincourt by the Royal Navy, she joined the
Grand Fleet in the
North Sea. During the war, the ship spent the bulk of her time on patrols and exercises, although she did participate in the
Battle of Jutland in 1916.
Agincourt was put into
reserve in 1919 and sold for
scrap in 1922 to meet the terms of the
Washington Naval Treaty.