Queen Elizabeth class battleship

The "Queen Elizabeth"-class battleships were a class of five super-dreadnoughts of the Royal Navy. The lead ship was named in honour of 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 convert|2|kn|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 /42 Mk 1 guns (381 mm), 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.

Origins

Following the success of the convert|13.5|in|mm|0|adj=on gun, the Admiralty decided to develop a convert|15|in|mm|0|adj=on gun to equip the battleships of the 1912 construction programme. The move to the larger 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-inch gun would have resulted in a much weaker ship.

The initial intention was that the new battleships would have the same configuration as the preceding "Iron Duke"-class, with five twin turrets and the then-standard speed of convert|21|kn|km/h. However, it was realised that, by dispensing with the so-called "Q" turret amidships, it would be possible to free up weight and volume for a much enlarged powerplant, and still fire a heavier broadside than the "Iron Duke". The original 1912 programme envisaged three battleships and a battlecruiser, possibly an improved version of "Tiger" named "Leopard". However, given the speed of the new ships, envisaged as convert|25|kn|km/h, it was decided that the battle cruiser would not be needed and a fourth battleship would be built instead. [Breyer, Siegfried. "Battleships and Battle Cruisers 1905-1970." New York: Doubleday, 1973, p. 135, 141.] When the Federation of Malay States offered to fund a further capital ship, it was decided to add a fifth unit to the class ("Malaya").

The Director of Naval Construction (DNC) advised that the concept would be feasible only if the ships were powered solely by oil. Previous classes, including those still in construction, used fuel oil—still relatively scarce—as a supplement to coal, of which the UK then commanded huge reserves. However, the then–First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, undertook to guarantee a supply of oil in wartime, thereby allowing the programme to proceed. The oil eventually was guaranteed by the negotiation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Convention. [Churchill, Winston S. "The World Crisis, 1911–1918". Free Press 2005. ISBN 0-7432-8343-0.]

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.

A further ship was authorized in 1914 and would have been named "Agincourt" (a name later applied to a dreadnought expropriated from Turkey). Although most sources and several official papers in the class's Ships Cover [A Ships Cover was an official volume prepared by the Constructor's Department and contained machinery contracts, rough design specifications, trials reports, and other documents relating to the design, construction, and repair work for a specific class of ships. Surviving Covers are held by the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.] describe her as a further repeat of the "QE" design, one historian has suggested that "Agincourt" would have been built on battlecruiser lines. This design would have kept the "QE" armament, but substituted thinner armour (down to 10 inches [250 mm] instead of 12 inches [300 mm] , for example) in order to gain a convert|28|kn|km/h|adj=on top speed. [Lambert, Nicholas A. "'Our Bloody Ships' or 'Our Bloody System': Jutland and the Loss of the Battle Cruisers, 1916." "The Journal of Military History": 61, January 1998, pp. 29-55.] Whatever the case, "Agincourt" was cancelled at the outbreak of war in 1914.Breyer, p. 140.]

Overview of the Design

The convert|15|in|mm|0|adj=on 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 convert|20000|yd|m. 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.

Armour protection was modified from the previous "Iron Duke"-class, with a thicker belt and improved underwater protection. The scale of deck armour was less generous, though typical of contemporary practice. However, the ships survived a considerable pounding at the Battle of Jutland while serving as the 5th Battle Squadron, so it should be judged as sufficient for its time.

In some respects, the ships did not quite fulfil their extremely demanding requirement. They were seriously overweight, as a result of which the draught was excessive and they were unable to reach the planned convert|25|kn|km/h in service. In the event, the combination of oil fuel and more boilers provided for a service speed of about convert|24|kn|km/h, still a useful improvement on the traditional battle line speed of convert|21|kn|km/h and just fast enough to be thought of as the first fast battleships. However, after Jutland Admiral John Jellicoe was persuaded that the slowest ship of this class was good only for about convert|23|kn|km/h, and concluded that, since this should be considered as the speed of the squadron, it would not safe to risk them in operations away from the main battlefleet.

The mounting of the convert|6|in|mm|0|adj=on secondary armament in hull casemates drastically reduced the reserve of buoyancy, since the casemates would not resist water if submerged. In practice, the casemates would be flooded even in normal steaming if the sea was heavy. ["Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships, 1906–1921". Conway Maritime Press, 1985. ISBN 0-85177-245-5. p. 34.] In addition, the ammunition supply arrangements for the 6-inch guns were relatively exposed; during the Battle of Jutland, this resulted in an ammunition fire aboard "Malaya" that nearly resulted in the loss of the ship. [Campbell, NJM. "Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting ". Conway Maritime Press, 1986. ISBN 0-85177-379-6. p. 132.]

Despite these problems, most of which were mitigated in service, the ships were well received and proved outstandingly successful in combat. The savings in weight, cost and manpower made possible by oil fuel only were convincingly demonstrated, as were the benefits of concentrating a heavier armament into fewer mountings.

The class was followed by the "Revenge"-class, which took the "Queen Elizabeth" configuration and economized it back down to the standard convert|21|kn|km/h|adj=on battle line. The true successor to the "Queen Elizabeth" would have been a fast battleship capable of 30 knots, being designed by Sir Eustace Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, but Admiral Jellicoe had the requirement changed to a large battlecruiser of which only one, "Hood", was completed.

The First World War

The class performed with distinction in World War I.

The "Queen Elizabeth" was detached from the squadron and took part in the Dardanelles Campaign, though it had missed Jutland as it was undergoing dock maintenance.

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), damaging SMS "Lützow" and "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

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.

The Second World War

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.

"Barham" and "Malaya", the least-modernized of the class, would not have been able to face a well-handled modern battleship such as the German battleship "Bismarck" in a one-to-one encounter with a high probability of success, although "Queen Elizabeth", "Warspite", and "Valiant" would likely have fared better. With her modern fire control equipment, "Warspite" scored a hit on an Italian battleship during the Battle of Calabria at a range of more than 26,000 yards, one of the longest range naval artillery hits in history. [The German warship "Scharnhorst" scored a hit on the British aircraft carrier "Glorious" at approximately the same range, a month earlier, during the evacuation of Norway.]

However, 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 resilient: "Warspite" survived a direct hit and two near-misses [ [http://www.1jma.dk/articles/1jmaluftwaffegroundweapons.htm 1.JmA - Special German weapons ] ] by a German glider bomb of a type that sank a modern Italian battleship, while "Queen Elizabeth" and "Valiant" were repaired and returned to service after being badly damaged by limpet mines [cite book | last = Winton| first = John| title = Cunningham| publisher = John Murray Publishers, 1998 ] placed by Italian frogmen at Alexandria Harbour in 1941.

hips of the class

* received five hits at Jutland, suffering 26 dead and 46 wounded 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.
* was hit eight times at Jutland, suffering 63 dead and 68 wounded and fired 215 shells. In World War II she escorted convoys and was damaged by a torpedo from "U-106" in 1941. Subsequently she escorted several convoys and supported various operations following the Normandy invasion until she was decommissioned in 1945.
* missed Jutland, but took part in the Dardanelles Campaign in World War I. 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.
* astonishingly received no hits at Jutland but suffered one wounded and fired 288 shells. In World War II, she took part in the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir, and was mined and damaged at Alexandria in 1941. She was subsequently repaired, and served in the Far East until 1944.
* had perhaps the most distinguished career of any Royal Navy ship of the 20th century. She suffered severe damage at Jutland and nearly foundered (she was hit by at least 15 heavy shells). She lost 14 dead and 32 wounded, firing a total of 259 shells. 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.
* "Agincourt" is often grouped with the rest of the "Queen Elizabeth" class. She was authorized in 1913, and intended for completion in late 1916, but was cancelled after the outbreak of the First World War.

The Canadian Naval Aid Bill of 1913 intended to provide the funds for three modern battleships, which most likely would have been three more members of the "Queen Elizabeth"-class, in much the same way as "Malaya" had been funded. However, the bill met with stiff opposition in Parliament, and was not passed. [ [http://www.gwpda.org/naval/pwr02000.htm Borden's Naval Aid Bill, 1912] ] It is unclear if these ships would have served in the Royal Navy (as with outright gifts like "Malaya" or the battlecruiser "New Zealand"), or if they would have served in the Royal Canadian Navy (HMAS "Australia", a sister ship to "New Zealand", served with the Royal Australian Navy).

Other Resources

* Brown, DK. "The Grand Fleet: Warship Design and Development 1906–1922". Caxton Editions 2003. ISBN 1-84067-531-4.

References