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.

[4] The Queen Elizabeth class was equipped with eight breech-loading (BL) 15-inch (381 mm) Mk I guns in four twin-gun turrets, in two superfiring pairs fore and aft of the superstructure, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear.

[6] The waterline belt of the Queen Elizabeth class consisted of Krupp cemented armour (KC) that was 13 inches (330 mm) thick over the ships' vitals.

Radio direction finding equipment was installed at the aft end of the command platform with antenna above the helm station, the bridge superstructure was modified and funnels were combined into one unit.

[8] The ship was fitted with flying-off platforms mounted on the roofs of 'B' and 'X' turrets by February 1919, from which fighters and reconnaissance aircraft could launch.

During the attempted military invasion of the Gallipoli on 25 April, Queen Elizabeth was the flagship for General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.

After the ships of the British and French fleets had shelled the outer forts of the Gallipoli peninsula on 3 November 1914, it was decided to launch a complete amphibious operation in January 1915.

[13] Upon their arrival on 25 February, Queen Elizabeth, together with Agamemnon, Irresistible and Gaulois, launched a new attack with the aim of destroying the outer forts at close range and all the way to the entrance.

The general plan was for four ships to sail in groups of two to the entrance of the strait, turn around and then attack Cape Helles and Kum Kale with their secondary armament until they reached a distance of about 3,300 yards.

In pursuance of these orders, Queen Elizabeth anchored 7 miles southwest of the Cape Helles lighthouse, set her sights on Sedd el Bahr and took out the two modern 23 cm guns there.

On 5 March, Queen Elizabeth fired for four hours from a distance of 13 kilometers at the forts on the European side of the strait, but with almost no effect.

At first, the attack seemed to go according to plan, but after several ships hit the mines laid earlier in the afternoon, it was decided to withdraw as darkness fell.

After the refit, which lasted until December 1927, she was recommissioned as flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet on 2 January 1928 and visited Istanbul in October 1929.

[22] From November 1932 to March 1933, the ship was overhauled in Portsmouth and took part in the fleet review off Spithead on 16 July 1935 during the 25th anniversary of George V's throne jubilee.

She was also in Alexandria during the Abyssinia Crisis and took part in the fleet review marking the coronation of George VI off Spithead on 19 May 1937.

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][24] 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.

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.

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.