HMS Queen Elizabeth

HMS Queen Elizabeth was a British dreadnought battleship, which was used by the Royal Navy both in WW1 and WW2. She was the lead ship of her class, which also comprised four other new dreadnoughts; HMS Malaya, Barham, Valiant, and Warspite. Built by Portsmouth Royal Dockyard, Queen Elizabeth was the first to be laid down, on October 21, 1912. When launched on October 16, 1913, she was the most modern and powerful battleship in the world as she was fitted with eight 15-inch (381-mm) naval guns, which were a new design and superior to other navies' 14-inch guns.

HMS Queen Elizabeth was also the first British dreadnought to move to an all oil-fired propulsion system. This move was done to meet the requirement to generate a much higher output and to reach the maximum speed of 24 knots. In order to achieve this objective, this battleship was equipped with new machinery; four Parsons steam turbines supplied by 24 boilers, putting out 75,000 HP. However, HMS Barham and Valiant were powered by Brown-Curtis turbines instead. The decision to go to an all oil-fired propulsion saved enough weight to allow the ship to have thicker armor. The exhaust was done through two large funnels set up behind the fore mast.

Below, HMS Queen Elizabeth dreadnought in November 1914, before she was sent to the Dardanelles.

This capital ship of the Royal Navy was named after Elizabeth I, the 16th century British monarch. When she was commissioned on December 22, 1914, WW1 had already started. In 1915, she was assigned to the British fleet operating in the Strait of Gallipoli (Dardanelles), in the Eastern Mediterranean, to take part in the Gallipoli Campaign. There, she carried out ground-softening bombardment of the Turkish coast in support of the Commonwealth troops invasion of the region. She would not participate in the Battle of Jutland in 1916, but her sister ships did.

During WW2, HMS Queen Elizabeth was assigned to naval operations in the Mediterranean Sea. In June 1941, she was damaged by a mine planted by Italian frogmen. Having being repaired, she became part of the Home Fleet, but in December 1943, she would be sent to the Pacific Theater, where she took part in the Dutch East Indies and Burma campaigns, bombing Japanese bases and providing fire support to amphibious forces.

Specifications

Type: dreadnought battleship

Displacement:  32,590 tons

Length: 196.8 m (645.8 ft)

Beam:  27.6 m (90.5 ft)

Draft: 8.8 m (28.8 ft)

Armor: 330-mm-thick on belt and turret faces; 65-mm on deck.

Propulsion/Machinery: 4 Parsons turbines, with 4 shafts, and 24 boilers.

Maximum Speed: 24 knots

Range: 5,000 nautical miles at 12 knots

Compliment: 951 men

Below, HMS Queen Elizabeth in 1913, before being launched.

The lead ship of her class during the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, along with other British battleships.

 Below, HMS Queen Elizabeth in 1941, in the Mediterranean, being painted with new camouflage.

 Below, the battleship's quarter deck, with Y turret guns trained to port; Mudros, on the Greek island of Lemnos, near the Dardanelles in 1915.