The followings are merely my personal opinion based upon my experience to build and operate RC model ships and boats and would not be necessarily suitable in the 1/96 Dreadnought.
The model ship data between my 1/96 HMS Fencer and 1/96 Dreadnought by Deans Marine are so near in terms of length and weight, such as 162cm(Fencer) against 165cm and weight is nearly the same...except the beams 9cm wider with the Fencer. While The Dreadnought is clearly much slimmer than The Fencer and this I think is very important to sail, needless to say.!
By the way, my Fencer is driven by a single and tremendously old Johnson 600 series motor with 60mm dia props and a 12V sealed battery.
The motor is far larger than Mabuchi 540 class motor as seen in the pics below.
Sailing of my Fencer is as seen in the following video and I think it fundamentally OK, BUT seems a bit faster for a scale model escort carrier even at this speed in the video...
I got the Fencer to operate at 1/4 throttle at the fastest in the video while I feel idling level of throttle might be better for a scale realism in movement on the water.....
In other words, idling throttle level of sailing might be sufficient for this warship in my impression currently.
Next sailing is supposed to carry out next spring with a 6V 2.3A sealed battery which I think is sufficient to enjoy both scale speed and run time as well.Getting back to 1/96 Dreadnought, the hull is much slenderer than the Fencer, and if the weight should be expected nearly the same level, ...
I PERESONALLY think and imagine as a conclusion that 4 pieces of around 540 class motors brushed at the largest and 6-7.2 V battery will do a nice and magnificent sailing performance on the water depending on the props as a scale model warship like the Dreadnought.
![Thumbs up :-))](https://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/Smileys/Tug/thumbup.gif)
IF I were you,I would possibly select this configuration as the first trial.
Wishing you a best result for a magnificent RC sailing model warship.!!!!
1/2;Johnson 600 series motors I got in 2007. Small one is Mabuchi 540 SH.
3; a Johnson 600 series motor installed in the hull which motor looks so small for the whole hull but soooo powerful actually.
![Thumbs up :-))](https://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/Smileys/Tug/thumbup.gif)
too fast for a scale model warship even at very low revolutions with 12 V battery by a little stick work.
4; 60mm dia screw
I think that a large-scale model ship like the 1/96 Dreadnought be better if sailed magnificently at low speed on the water.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f-fI3S6f1E