BRITISH ROYAL NAVY BATTLESHIP HMS "QUEEN ELIZABETH I" 1918

Description

The Queen Elizabeth-class battleships were a class of five super-dreadnoughts of the Royal Navy commissioned in 1915-16. The lead ship was named after Elizabeth I of England. These majestic battleships were superior in firepower, protection and speed to their Royal Navy predecessors of the Iron Duke-class as well as preceding German classes such as the König-class, although the corresponding Bayern-class ships were competitive except for being 2 knots (3.7 km/h) slower. As such, they are generally considered the first fast battleships. The Queen Elizabeths were the first battleships to be armed with 15-inch (380 mm) guns, and were described in the 1919 edition of Jane’s Fighting Ships as "the finest class of Capital Ships yet turned out." They saw much service in both world wars. Queen Elizabeth took part in the Dardanelles Campaign of 1915 bombarding forts, but missed Jutland in 1916. She became the Admiral Beatty’s flagship when he assumed command of the Grand Fleet. In World War II she was mined by Italian frogmen and grounded in the shallow water of Alexandria Harbour in 1941. She was subsequently repaired, and served in the Far East until 1945. Barham was lost to U-boat attack in 1941, but the others survived the war and were scrapped in the late 1940s. (Scale : 1/700e)