World War II Database

Queen Elizabeth was the lead ship of her class of dreadnought battleships. She was commissioned during WW1, and she participated in the Dardanelles Campaign almost immediately after her commissioning as the flagship for the preliminary naval operations. At Gallipoli between 25 Feb and 14 May 1915, she was the flagship for General Sir Ian Hamilton and bombarded forts on the Narrows with 86 15-in and 71 6-in shells. In Feb 1917, she became the flagship of the Home Fleet. She was the only ship in her class to have missed the Battle of Jutland because she was receiving maintenance at that time. During the inter-war period, she was the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet from 1919 to 1924, then the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet from 1924 on. During the Spanish Civil War, she participated in the non-intervention blockade.

As the European War began, Queen Elizabeth was in the middle of a second refit at Portsmouth. She was moved to Rosyth in 1941 to avoid potential German aerial attack. She was completed and rejoined service in May 1941, taking up the role as the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet. On 18 Dec 1941, while at Alexandria, Egypt, she was mined by Italian frogmen, who were all captured at the end of their operation. Queen Elizabeth sank, but because the water was shallow, the Royal Navy was able to maintain an illusion that she remained in operational status. She was eventually raised and temporarily patched so she could make the journey to the Norfolk Navy Yard in Virginia, United States, where she remained between Sep 1942 and Jun 1943. In Jan 1944, she joined the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean and participated in operations against Japanese bases in Southwest Pacific region.

Near the end of WW2, Queen Elizabeth returned to Britain in Jul 1945. She was decommissioned in Mar 1948 and was scrapped in Jul 1948.

Share this article with your friends:

Delicious   Digg   Facebook

Reddit   StumbleUpon   Twitter

Stay updated with WW2DB:

Subscribe to RSS Feeds

Advertise on ww2db.com

Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Hobilar says:
   9 Sep 2007 01:23:09 AM
   
   HMS Queen Elizabeth had the distinction of being the first capital ship in the world to be equipped with oil-burning boilers. These being built by Babcock and Wilcox. The weight saved was utilised to increase her armour.
   
   
   
   
2. John Odom says:
   24 Jun 2008 06:21:28 AM
   
   Is there any truth to the rumor that she "stripped a turbine and cpuld only make 15 knots" at the battles of the Dardanelles?
3. Anonymous says:
   15 Aug 2009 07:52:46 PM
   
   Am I able to get alist and any other information about the crew? I am looking for information about Charles Dearden , an engineer.

Posting Your Comments on this Topic

Your Name
Your Email
	Your email will not be published
Your Comments
Security Code

Note: Please refrain from using strong language. HTML tags are not allowed. Your IP address will be tracked even if you remain anonymous. WW2DB site administrators reserve the right to moderate, censor, and/or remove any comment.