Arguably the most legendary battleships ever built, the Queeen Elizabeth-class were the most powerful capital ships of their day and gave sterling service throughout the two world wars, suffering only one ship lost out of the five built. The QEs introduced numerous innovations in battleship design, notably being the first such ships powered by oil rather than coal (which made refuelling easier and resulted in less smoke). They were also the first armed with what was to become the Royal Navy's most successful guns, the BL 15-in Mk. I which were a substantial improvement over the 13.5-in guns of their predecessors. This made them effectively the most powerful ships afloat when the first was commissioned in 1916. Secondary armament consisted of sixteen 6-in guns inside casemates installed on the upper and main decks, this was later changed and additional anti-aircraft armament was added during a series of modernizations in the 1930s. The QEs had thicker armor than the preceding Iron Duke-class along the belt and under the waterline although deck armor was reduced slightly. Torpedo bulges were also added during the interwar years as was additional armor. The extra armor and armament resulted in the ships being somewhat overweight and this reduced the top speed to 23 knots which by World War I standards made them fast battleships. The modernizations (which were not applied in equal measure to all ships) also gave them new and improved machinery for better fuel consumption and radically altered the appearance of the superstructure, most visibly by incorporating a single broad funnel. As a result, those ships that were modernized had a considerably different look in the two world wars. All five ships were in action during World War I, with four of them participating in the Battle of Jutland where they were the most modern and the most powerful ships of either fleet. During World War II, they were used extensively in the Mediterranean: three of them participated in the Battle of Cape Matapan and were later used for shore bombardment (the most famous of the QEs, the HMS Warspite, participated in D-Day as well). The battle-hardened ships were at the end of their lifespan once the war was over, and were scrapped.

The lead ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth was the only modern battleship in action during the Dardanelles campaign, but missed out of the Battle of Jutland. It was extensively modernized in the interwar years and served in the Mediterranean during World War II but was put out of action for two years by Italian frogmen in Alexandria in late 1941 (its sister, the HMS Valiant was also attacked but suffered less damage). After being repaired it went on to serve in the Far East. The HMS Warspite had the most illustrious war record of any battleship ever built. It participated in Jutland where it was damaged and received an extensive modernization before World War II. At the start of the war, it was in action during the Norway campaign (its Swordfish floatplanes became the first aircraft to sink a U-boat) after which it was sent to the Mediterranean and participated in battles off Calabria and Cape Matapan. During the former, it scored the longest ranged hit on record against the Italian Giulio Cesare: 24 km. Later, it was sent to the Indian Ocean during 1942-43 before being sent back to the Mediterranean for the invasions of Sicily and Salerno. It was heavily damaged by a Fritz X bomb during this time and was sent back to home waters where it was one of the three Royal Navy battleships providing fire support for the D-Day landings. HMS Valiant was the only one of the four QE ships at Jutland to not suffer any damage. Following an extensive refit, it was in action mostly in the Mediterranean during World War II, participating in the attack on Mers-el-Kebir, Cape Matapan, Sicily, and Salerno. It was later sent to the Far East. The HMS Barnham was the flagship of the 5th Battle Squadron at Jutland, which comprised the four QE ships. After the war, it was modernized to a lesser extent than its three older sisters. After participating in an attack against Dakar (where it engaged the French battleship Richelieu), it went on to serve in the Mediterranean until its sinking by U-331 in late 1942. The HMS Malaya was the last to be commissioned, just a few months before Jutland where it took numerous hits. Unlike her sisters, it was not extensively modernized between the wars and during World War II participated mostly as a convoy escort.