When the Great War broke out Dawson enlisted in the Royal Navy, and as an officer in Falmouth he met the sea painter Charles Napier Hemy, who was a great influence upon him. Dawson is now known for his anachronistic but salty painting of tea clippers under full sail, but some of his best work was done to illustrate naval actions from both Wars for The Sphere newspaper. He was present at the final surrender of the German Grand Fleet, and an entire issue of The Sphere was devoted to his official drawings of the event.

The torpedo net booms and the super-firing twin gun turrets narrow the class of ship to only a handful of vessels; our hunch is that it is an Orion class ship. 

Our thanks to Simon Stock.