Queen Elizabeth in the 1930s |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | 21 October 1912 |
| Launched: | 16 October 1913 |
| Commissioned: | 1915 |
| Decommissioned: | 1948 |
| Struck: | 7 July 1948 |
| Fate: | Scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | As built: 33,020 tons deep |
| Length: | 640 ft 10.5 in (195.339 m) (overall) 646 ft 1 in (196.93 m) (with stern-walk fitted) 601 ft 4.5 in (183.299 m) (waterline) |
| Beam: | 90 feet 6 inches |
| Draught: |
30 feet 6 inches–30 feet 11.5 inches (mean) 33 feet 10 inches–34 feet 2.5 inches (deep) |
| Propulsion: | 24 × boilers at 285 psi maximum pressure 4 × direct drive turbines 4 × shafts 75,000 shp at 300 rpm 2 × oil driven 450 kW dynamos 1 × reciprocating engine driven 200 kW dynamo added shortly after commissioning |
| Speed: | 24 knots (design) |
| Endurance: | 8,600 nmi (16,000 km) at 12.5 knots (23 km/h) 3,900 nmi (7,200 km) at 21 knots (39 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 3,300 tons of oil 100 tons of coal |
| Complement: | 950 - 1300 |
| Armament: |
As built: 1915-1916 changes : |
| Armour: | As built armour: Belt: 13 inch tapering to 6 inch forward and 4 inch aft Upper belt: 6 inches Bulkheads: 6 inch and 4 inch forward; 6 in ch and 4 inch aft 15 inch Turrets: 11 inch sides; 13 inch faces; 4.25 inch top Barbettes: 10 to 7 inches above belt; 6 to 4 inches below belt 6 inch guns: 6 inch Conning tower: 11 inch side; 3 inch roof; 4 inch revolving hood Conning tower tube: 6 inches to upper deck; 4 inches below Torpedo conning tower: 6 inch Torpedo conning tower tube: 4 inches to upper deck As built protective plate: Vertical: Torpedo bulkheads: 1 inch + 1 inch Magazine-end bulkheads: 1 inch + 1 inch (extra 1 inch layer added after Battle of Jutland) Funnel uptakes: 1.5 inches Horizontal: Forecastle: 1 inch over 6 inch battery Upperdeck 2 to 1.25 inches from A–Y barbettes Main deck: 1.25 inches at forward and aft ends Middle deck: 1 inch (2 inches after Battle of Jutland) Lower deck: 3 inches at extreme ends; 2.25 inches over steering gear; 1 inch forward |
HMS Queen Elizabeth (pennant number 00) was the lead ship of the Queen Elizabeth-class of dreadnought battleships, named in honour of Elizabeth I of England. She saw service in both World Wars. A Super-Dreadnought class of battleships, the HMS Queen Elizabeth vessels were the first British-built ships of their type to be powered by oil instead of immense amounts of coal.
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She was launched on 16 October 1913 at Portsmouth, Hampshire, and entered service in January 1915 during World War I.
While still undergoing testing in the Mediterranean, the Queen Elizabeth was sent to the Dardanelles for the Allied attempt to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war. The Queen Elizabeth was the only modern battleship to participate, though a number of battlecruisers and pre-dreadnought battleships were also involved. She became the flagship for the preliminary naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign, leading the first line of British battleships in the battle of 18 March 1915. During the attempted military invasion of the Gallipoli on 25 April, the Queen Elizabeth was the flagship for General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. However, after the sinking of HMS Goliath by a Turkish torpedo boat on 12 May, the Queen Elizabeth was immediately withdrawn to a safer position.
She joined Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas's 5th Battle Squadron (consisting of Queen Elizabeth-class battleships) of the Grand Fleet based at Scapa Flow, but she missed the Battle of Jutland due to being in dock for maintenance.
Between the wars she was the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet from 1919 to 1924. The future First Sea Lord John H. D. Cunningham served aboard her as Master of the Fleet, in 1922. From 1924 she was the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet. Following a refit, she rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet in 1927, went to the Atlantic Fleet in 1929, and later that year returned to the Mediterranean, where she served until 1937.[1] During the 1930s she participated in the non-intervention blockade during the Spanish Civil War.
She was rebuilt twice between the world wars. In 1926–1927 bulges were added, the funnels were trunked, four 4 inch guns were added, and a new foretop was installed. In her 1937-1941 rebuild she was fitted with a tower bridge in place of her old bridge; her 6 inch (152 mm) guns were removed and in their place received 20 4.5 in (114 mm) guns and several smaller anti-aircraft guns; horizontal armour was added; engines and boilers were replaced; and the elevation of her main battery was increased to 30 degrees. Deck armour was increased to 5 inches over the magazines, 2.5 inches over the machinery, while the new 4.5" guns had between 1 and 2 inches of armour.[2] She also received facilities for aircraft with a launching catapult amidships.[1] New fire control equipment was installed, including the HACS MkIV AA fire control system and the Admiralty Fire Control Table Mk VII for surface fire control of the main armament. This reconstruction was completed in January 1941, when Britain had been at war for over a year.
When her reconstruction was complete, Queen Elizabeth rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet, covering the evacuation of Crete in June 1941.[1] She, along with HMS Valiant, was mined and seriously damaged by Italian frogmen in an attack on 19 December 1941 in shallow water in the harbour at Alexandria, Egypt, with the loss of nine men of her complement.
Although grounded on the harbour bottom, her decks were clear and the Italian crews were captured. For this reason, the British maintained the illusion of full operational status, in order to conceal the weak British position in the Mediterranean during the period the two ships were patched and refloated. However, this concealing action lasted through a few days only, whereas the Valiant went back into service after many months and the Queen Elizabeth after more than a year and half. Following completion of temporary repairs in an Alexandria drydock in June 1942, she steamed through the Suez Canal and around Africa to the Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia in the United States. From September of that year until June 1943, she was comprehensively repaired.
Queen Elizabeth went to the Home Fleet in July 1943, and in December she left for the Eastern Fleet, which she joined in January 1945. She took part in raids on Japanese bases in Indonesia, and was placed in reserve in August 1945.
The vessel was paid off in June and scrapped in July 1948.[1]
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:HMS_Queen_Elizabeth_(1913) HMS Queen Elizabeth (1913)] at Wikimedia Commons
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