Queen Elizabeth class battleship

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General characteristics (original configuration)	Image:RN-White-Ensign.svg
Image:HMS Warspite (Queen Elizabeth-class battleship).jpg HMS Warspite in action during the Second World War
Displacement:	27,500 tons standard, 33,400 tons full load
Length:	645 ft 9 in (197 m)
Beam:	90 ft 6 in (27.6 m)
Draught:	28 ft 9 in (8.8 m)
Propulsion:	Steam turbines, 24 boilers, 4 shafts, 56,500 hp (42 MW)
Speed:	24 knots (44 km/h)
Range:	4,400 miles
Complement:	950–1300
Armament:	8 x 15 in (381 mm) guns, 14 x 6 in (152 mm) guns, 2 x 3 in (76 mm) guns, 4 x 47 mm guns, 4 x 21 in (533 mm) submerged torpedo tubes

The Queen Elizabeth-class battleships were five super-dreadnoughts of the Royal Navy, named in honour of Elizabeth I of England. They were majestic looking battleships that captured the imagination of much of the British public. They boasted an excellent combination of weaponry, armour and speed, indeed they were the first fast battleships. They dwarfed their Royal Navy predecessors of the Iron Duke class and preceding German classes such as the König class, although the corresponding Bayern-class ships were competitive except for being 2 knots slower. The Queen Elizabeths were the first battleships to be armed with 15 inch /42 Mk 1 guns (381 mm), and they forced the Germans to alter the armament of the Bayern class armament from its original 12 inch (305 mm) guns to 15 inch.

The move to the 15-inch gun was accelerated by one or two years by the intervention of Winston Churchill, now at the Admiralty. Rather than waiting for prototype guns, the entire design was optimized on paper for the new weapon, and construction commenced immediately. In making this decision, the Admiralty ran a considerable risk, as a forced reversion to the 13.5-in gun would have resulted in a much weaker ship. Calculations showed that 8 15-in guns threw a greater broadside weight than 10 of the 13.5-in, so the Q turret was completely omitted. The space was given over to boilers.

Meanwhile, an investigation lead by Admiral Jackie Fisher had worked through all the logistical problems associated with oil fuel instead of coal, and so oil fuel was installed. Oil has a much greater energy density, vastly simplified refuelling arrangements, requires no stokers, and emits much less smoke to obscure gun laying, and makes the ships less visible on the horizon.

The combination of oil fuel and more boilers provided for a speed of 24 knots, a useful improvement on the traditional battle line speed of 21 knots and just fast enough to be thought of as the first "fast battleships". Admiral John Jellicoe, however, pointed out that, since the slowest ship of this class was good only for about 23 knots, this should be considered as the speed of the squadron.

The 15-inch gun turned out to be a complete success in service. It was reliable and extremely accurate, being able to drop tight groups of shells at 20,000 yards (18 km). Poor shell design reduced its effectiveness at the Battle of Jutland, but this was addressed with the arrival of the superior "Green Boy" shells in 1918. The gun even remained competitive in World War II, after receiving further shell upgrades, and mountings with greater elevation. The gun disposition of 4 forward, 4 aft, in 4 twin turrets, became ubiquitous.

Armour protection was modified from the previous Iron Duke class, although designers remained reluctant to provide deck armour on a sufficient scale. However, the 5th Battle Squadron survived a considerable pounding at Jutland so it should be judged as sufficient by the standards of World War I.

They performed with distinction in World War I. At the Battle of Jutland, four of the ships formed Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas's 5th Battle Squadron, and in the clash with the German 1st Scouting Group under Admiral Franz von Hipper they "fired with extraordinary rapidity and accuracy" (according to Reinhard Scheer), sinking Lützow and severely damaging Seydlitz and a number of other German warships. Three of the Queen Elizabeths received hits from German warships during the engagement, yet they all returned home, though Warspite was heavily damaged, taking fifteen hits and coming close to foundering.

Between the wars, the ships received considerable upgrade, in some cases amounting to a new ship inside the old hull. This included new machinery, small tube boilers, deck armour upgrades, torpedo belt armour, new superstructure, trunked funnels, new secondary armament and anti-aircraft armament, and many gunlaying and electronics upgrades.

In World War II, the class also performed with distinction, though their age, and the increasing obsolescence of the battleship in the face of air power, was beginning to show. They would not have been able to face a well-handled modern battleship such as the German Bismarck with much chance of success. Modern torpedoes outclassed their torpedo belt protection: in November 1941, Barham, although admittedly the least modernized of the quintet, was torpedoed by a U-Boat and sank in just five minutes, with the loss of over 800 of her crew when her magazines detonated. On the other hand, they were extremely resiliant: Warspite survived a hit by a German glider bomb of a type that sank a modern Italian battleship, while Queen Elizabeth and Valiant were refloated and returned to service after being sunk in shallow water by Italian frogmen at Alexandria in 1941.

They were followed by the Revenge class, which took the Queen Elizabeth design and economized it back down to the standard 21-knot battle line.

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Ships of the class

Barham received five hits at Jutland and fired 337 shells. In World War II, she fought at Cape Matapan. On 25 November 1941 she was struck by three torpedoes from U-331 and sunk.
Malaya was hit eight times at Jutland, but only suffered minor damage. In World War II she escorted convoys and was damaged by a torpedo from U-106 in 1941.
Queen Elizabeth missed Jutland, but took part in the Dardanelles Campaign in World War I. In World War II she was mined and sunk by Italian frogmen at Alexandria in 1941. She was subsequently raised, repaired, and served in the far east until 1945.
Valiant astonishingly received no hits at Jutland. In World War II, she took part in the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir, and was mined and sunk at Alexandria in 1941. She was subsequently raised, repaired, and served in the far east until 1944.
Warspite had perhaps the most distinguished career of any Royal Navy ship of the 20th century. She suffered severe damage at Jutland and nearly foundered. In World War II, she took part in many battles, including Narvik, Cape Matapan, Crete, and Salerno, where she was hit by a glider bomb. She was never fully repaired, and became a coastal bombardment ship, covering the Normandy landings, and further operations in other parts of France.