A FAMOUS VETERAN

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4527, 23 January 1942, Page 6

A FAMOUS VETERAN

THE QUEEN ELIZABETH MEDITERRANEAN FLAGSHIP AGAIN An interesting disclosure made in a brief cable message lately recording the New Year broadcast of Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, Command-er-in-Chief, Mediterranean, was the fact that his flagship is now H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth. This is the first time since the war began that the name and whereabouts of this famous battleship have been mentioned publicly. For more than twelve months after Italy entered the war in June, 1940, Admiral Cunningham flew his flag in an equally famous ship H.M.S. Warspite. This ship went out to the Mediterranean a few weeks after the second action at Narvik in April, 1940, when she led a flotilla of destroyers into the Vest Fiord and completely wiped out the German destroyers and supply ships there. The Warspite flew Admiral Cunningham’s flag in the Battle of Cape Matapan in the Eastern Mediterranean. With a record of more than 27 years’ service, H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth is the most senior battleship of the Royal Navy. She was the nameship of a class of five battleships which were the largest, fastest, and most powerfully armed and heavily armoured vessels of their type in the world. They were the first capital ships to mount 15-inch guns and to use oil fuel only instead of coal. The others were the Warspite, Barham, Valiant, and Malaya. FOUGHT AT DARDANELLES The Queen Elizabeth was laid down at Portsmouth in October, and launched a year later. Commissioned on December 22, 1914, she was sent out to the Dardanelles where she took part in the bombardments of the Turkish posts in February and March, 1915. When the Expeditionary Force was landed on April 25, Army Headquarters were on board the Queen Elizabeth. On April 27 the German battle-cruiser Goeben in the Dardanelles Narrows was shelling the beaches at Gaba Tepe. With the assistance of a kite balloon the Queen Elizabeth engaged her by indirect fire across Gallipoli Peninsula at a range of seven miles and forced the Goeben to cease fire and take shelter. Later, a Turkish transport was sunk by this method of fire control. In May of that year the Admiralty recalled the Queen Elizabeth from the Eastern Mediterranean and she joined Jellicoe’s Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow as a unit of the Fifth Battle Squadron which then comprised the five ships of her class. The Queen Elizabeth was in dock refitting on May 31, 1916, and so missed the Battle of Jutland in which her sister-ships played a distinguished part. At the end of 1916 the Queen Elizabeth became flagship of Admiral Sir David Beatty as Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet. It was on board the Queen Elizabeth on November 15, 1918, that Beatty dictated to Admiral

von Meurer the terms of the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet. HISTORIC SIGNAL It was from the Queen Elizabeth, six days later, after the Grand Fleet had shepherded the German ships to the anchorage in the Firth of Forth, that Admiral Beatty made the historic signal: “The German flag will be hauled down at sunset and will not be hoisted again without permission.” On April 4, 1919, Beatty was promoted Admiral of the Fleet and hoisted the Union Flag on the Queen Elizabeth. Three days later the Grand Fleet ceased to exist as such and he hauled down his flag for the last time. His successor was Admiral Sir Charles Madden with the new title of Commander-in-Chief, Home and Atlantic Fleets.

From 1924 to 1938 most of the active service of the Queen Elizabeth was as flagship of successive Commanders - in - Chief, Mediterranean. They included Admirals Sir Roger Keyes, Sir Frederick Field, Sir Ernie Chatfield, Sir William Fisher, and Sir Dudley Pound, the present First Sea Lord.

In October, 1929, a British squadron visited Constantinople (Istanbul) for the first time since peace was signed between Great Britain and Turkey. The squadron included the Queen Elizabeth, flagship of Sir Frederick Field, and the aircraft-carrier Courageous.

In 1930 the Queen Elizabeth underwent a long refit which included extensive reconstruction at Portsmouth, and in August, 1937, she paid off in dockyard control for a similar purpose.

Now in her twenty-eighth year, but modernised and rejuvenated, this famous veteran is performing her second war service in her familiar capacity as flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean.