The class comprised King Edward VII, the lead ship, Commonwealth, Hindustan, Britannia, Dominion, New Zealand, Africa, and Hibernia.

They marked the first major development of the basic pre-dreadnought type that had been developed with the Majestic type of the mid-1890s, all of which had been designed by the Director of Naval Construction, William Henry White, with the primary innovation being the adoption of a heavy secondary battery of four 9.2-inch (234 mm) guns to supplement the standard main battery of four 12 in (305 mm) guns.

The King Edward VIIs were among the last pre-dreadnoughts built for the Royal Navy before the construction and launch of the revolutionary battleship HMS Dreadnought in 1906, which immediately rendered them obsolescent.

Africa and Hibernia were involved with experiments with seaplanes in 1912, and that year all members of the class were assigned to the 3rd Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet and were later sent to the Mediterranean Sea to respond to the First Balkan War.

By the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the King Edward VIIs were sent to the Grand Fleet to support the Northern Patrol and to conduct sweeps in the North Sea for German warships, though they never saw combat.

By mid-1916, the surviving ships were no longer suitable for front-line fleet service, and so they were dispersed to other tasks, including coastal defence with the Nore Command and for operations in the Gallipoli Campaign.

Combined with a higher metacentric height, the low freeboard of the King Edward VIIs made them prone to shipping water in heavy seas and excessive rolling.

The follow-on class, the two Lord Nelsons, were a major departure from previous designs and marked a transitional stage between pre-dreadnought and dreadnought-type battleships.

[7] The King Edward VIIs were the first British battleships with balanced rudders since the 1870s and were very manoeuvrable, with a tactical diameter of 340 yards (310 m) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

They had a slightly faster roll than previous British battleship classes, but were good gun platforms, although very wet in bad weather.

[5] The King Edward VII-class ships were powered by a pair of 4-cylinder triple-expansion engines that drove two inward-turning screws, with steam provided by water-tube or fire-tube boilers of various types.

Primarily powered by coal, all of the class except New Zealand had oil sprayers installed during construction, the first time this had been done in British battleships.

These allowed steam pressure to be rapidly increased, improving the acceleration of the ships; this ability later led to the decision to adopt all oil-fired boilers in the Queen Elizabeth-class super-dreadnoughts.

In 1907, King Edward VII had some of her 12-pounder guns temporarily relocated to the main battery turret roofs, but this was found to be unsatisfactory and they reverted to their original locations that same year.

Africa had experimental aircraft launching ramps installed on her bow in 1912 for flight tests, though the equipment was later transferred to Hibernia that year, from which it was removed altogether.

[17] After the start of the First World War in August 1914, Zealandia (ex-New Zealand) gave one of her 12-pounders to arm a Q-ship, receiving a pair of 3-pounders in its place.

Commonwealth received dazzle camouflage, and it has been reported that Zealandia was similarly painted, but according to the naval historian R. A. Burt, the "lack of official and photographic evidence rules this out.

[20] In mid-1912, Africa and Hibernia were involved in tests with the Short Improved S.27 biplane "S.38" flown by Commander Charles Samson; the former was the first British warship to launch an aircraft, and the latter was the first to do so whilst underway.

The tests demonstrated the utility of aircraft used to spot the fall of shot and to scout for hostile vessels, but also revealed the impracticability of the equipment available at the time.

During the First Balkan War of 1912–1913, the ships of the 3rd Battle Squadron were sent to the Mediterranean Sea to represent British interests in the region; they were involved in an international blockade of Montenegro to protest the Montenegrin occupation of Scutari, which was to be part of the newly created state of Albania.

[25] While serving with the Grand Fleet, the squadron was tasked with conducting operations around Scotland and the North Sea as part of the Northern Patrol.

[26] In January 1916, while steaming to Ireland for a refit, King Edward VII struck a mine that had been laid by the German auxiliary cruiser Möwe; the battleship sank slowly enough that her entire crew was taken off, with the exception of one man who fell to his death during the evacuation.

Hibernia and Zealandia were sent to the eastern Mediterranean in late 1915 to take part in the Gallipoli Campaign, though they saw little activity there apart from during the evacuation of Allied forces from the peninsula in early 1916.

Britannia was torpedoed by the German U-boat UB-50 off Cape Trafalgar on 9 November, just two days before the Armistice with Germany that ended the fighting; she was one of the last British warships to be lost during the war.