Space to shoot HMS Queen Elizabeth was the lead ship of her class of five dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy in the early 1910s, and was often used as a flagship. She served in the First World War as part of the Grand Fleet, and participated in the inconclusive action of 19 August 1916. Her service during the war generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea. She and the other super-dreadnought battleships were the first of their type to be powered by oil instead of coal. Queen Elizabeth later served in several theatres during the Second World War, and was ultimately scrapped in 1948.
Art: me& boravejder Second World War On 1 August 1937, she was decommissioned for conversion work at Portsmouth, but had to be transferred from Portsmouth to Rosyth in December 1940, fearing air raids by the Luftwaffe. On 31 January 1941, Queen Elizabeth was recommissioned and assigned to the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet.[22] Mediterranean Sea In May 1941, she was reassigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. On 6 May she departed Gibraltar for Alexandria and, together with Force H, formed convoy escorts to Malta. She then participated in the defense of Crete and the evacuation of British-Australian-New Zealand Expeditionary Force during the German Operation Merkur. On 26 May, she and Barham supported the air attack on the German base at Karpathos by aircraft from Formidable. On 27 May, she became the flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron and flagship of the 2nd Fleet, replacing the Barham which, had been damaged by bombs during the battle. On 19 December 1941, Queen Elizabeth and her sister ship Valiant were seriously damaged by limpet mines placed by Italian combat swimmers of Decima Flottiglia MAS, who entered the Allied military port of Alexandria with SLC type "manned torpedoes" ("maiali"). Although badly damaged, with her draught increased to 41.8 feet (12.5m), Queen Elizabeth was not grounded on the harbour bottom,[Note 2][23] her decks were clear and the Italian crews were captured. For this reason, the Royal Navy maintained the illusion of full operational status, to conceal their weakened position in the Mediterranean during the period the two ships were repaired and refloated. Valiant went back into service after many months and Queen Elizabeth after more than a year and a 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 1942 until June 1943, she was comprehensively repaired.[24] Queen Elizabeth went to the Home Fleet in July 1943. Pacific On 23 December 1943, Queen Elizabeth set sail bound for Trincomalee. Upon her arrival on 28 January 1944, C-in-C the Eastern Fleet Admiral Somerville assumed command. During Operation Cockpit, in formation with French and Dutch units, she supported Illustrious and the Saratoga in their attack on Sabang on 19 April. From 30 April to 1 May, she participated in the bombardment of Car Nicobar and Port Blair in the Andaman Islands during Operation D, after which the ship was overhauled at Durban from October to November 1944. In January 1945, she participated in further bombardments of Sabang during Operation Outflank and participated in the recapture of Burma until May where she supported the landing of Allied troops on Ramree Island on 21 January and on Cheduba Island on 26 January as part of Operation Dracula. Post War On 12 July 1945 she was replaced by the Nelson as flagship and returned home. After arriving in Portsmouth on 7 August 1945, she was detached to Rosyth for reserve duty on 10 August. From October 1945 to March 1946 she served the Home-Fleet as accommodation ship. She was then reassigned to the Portsmouth Reserve where she remained until her decommissioning on 15 May 1948. In July 1948, she was finally sold to Arnott Young and scrapped at Troon.
