HMS Queen Elizabeth (1913)

Queen Elizabeth in the Firth of Forth during the Second World War
History
United Kingdom
Name	Queen Elizabeth
Namesake	Elizabeth I
Builder	HM Dockyard, Portsmouth
Cost	£3,014,103
Laid down	21 October 1912
Launched	16 October 1913
Completed	January 1914
Commissioned	22 December 1914
Decommissioned	1948
Stricken	7 July 1948
Identification	Pennant number: 00
Motto	Semper Eadem ("Always the Same")
Fate	Scrapped, 1948
Badge
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Queen Elizabeth-class battleship
Displacement	32,590 long tons (33,113 t) 33,260 long tons (33,790 t) (Deep load)
Length	639 ft 9 in (195 m)
Beam	90 ft 7 in (27.6 m)
Draught	33 ft (10.1 m)
Installed power	24 Babcock & Wilcox boilers 75,000 shp (56,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 2 steam turbine sets
Speed	24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph)
Range	5,000 nmi (9,260 km; 5,750 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	1,262 (1920, as a flagship)
Armament	4 × twin 15 in (381 mm) guns 16 × single 6 in (152 mm) guns 2 × single 3 in (76 mm) AA guns 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Waterline belt: 13 in (330 mm) Deck: 1–3 in (25–76 mm) Barbettes: 7–10 in (178–254 mm) Gun turrets: 11–13 in (279–330 mm) Conning tower: 13 in (330 mm)

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 scrapped in 1948.