When the Great War broke out, Dawson enlisted in the Royal Navy. As an officer in Falmouth he met the sea painter Charles Napier Hemy, who was a great influence upon him. Although Dawson is now known for his anachronistic but salty paintings of tea clippers under full sail, some of his best work was done to illustrate naval action from both Wars for The Sphere newspaper. He was present at the final surrender of the German Grand Fleet in 1918, and an entire issue of The Sphere was devoted to his official drawings of the event.

The torpedo net booms and 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.