"The Best Naval Guns Ever Made": The Queen Elizabeth-Class

Great work Bezo. Nice improvements all round. I hope you're going to do more of these!

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

That's a very nice collection indeed

It might be called "The Fantastic Four"

The care and precision you put in both your drawings and the historical facts are priceless. What can I say but THANK YOU

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Work in progress:
DD County Class PNS Babur (1982)(PAK)
FF Type 21 Class D182 PNS Babur (2000)(PAK)
All relevant Coat of Arms

Regarding the Falklands - if the RN had kept its combat ships
further away from the amhibious landing site(s), wouldn't the
amhib vessels have taken the brunt of the Argentine air attacks?
The three books I have read on this campaign indicate that the
Rn DD & FF were there to provide SAM (AA) cover for the ships
unloading troops and equipment. Argentine A-4's flew right over
that channel and beach area. The only AA for the first 72 hours
was provided by the RN guns and SAMs.

Let's end that discussion on that note, and focus on the actual topic matter!

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My Avatar:Петр Алексеевич Безобразов (Petr Alekseevich Bezobrazov), Вице-адмирал , царская ВМФ России(1845-1906) - I sign my drawings as Ari Saarinen

A heartfelt and sincere thanks to all the compliments from my friends and colleagues here. Especially to Hood for giving me his unreserved approval - and yes, I'd be most happy to continue with this fine class! - and Kim for his so generous comment. Yes, they could indeed be called the "Fantastic Four"! It has been a dream project brought to life!

A very good thread. of excellent drawings.
I\m personally waiting for HMS Queen Elizabeth as in 1941, and HMS Warspite during the Spanish civil war

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Thank you Kim for the crest

"Never fear to try on something new. Remember that the Titanic was built by professionals, and the Ark by an amateur"

Well, I do believe Hood gave me a carte blanche to redo his renditions, so I'll get there, Novice. Just have some patience!

For the Finnish-Swedish author, navalist, graphic designer, illustrator and artist, Björn Landström (1917-2002), the Queen Elizabeths represented the epitome of warship development. In his internationally renowned book "Skeppet" (The Ship) (1961) he describes the class in an almost euphoric tone. I will share a few excerpt for you, to introduce my next version, the HMS Barham as completed, 1915.
My rendition is based both on official blueprints, R. A. Burt's version and, for the graphic setting, on Landström's ever so beautiful illustration of her. He based his illustration, in turn, on a scale model at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, which once had been on display at the main office of John Brown at Clydebank, Scotland.
Thus he writes:

Quote:

"The most illustrious series of battleships ever built were the ships in the Queen Elizabeth-class: Barham, Malaya, Queen Elizabeth, Valiant and Warspite. They were laid down 1912-13 and were completed 1915-16 and, through two world wars came to play a bigger, longer and more important role than any other warships."

He continues:

Quote:

"The new ships combined the speed of the battle cruisers with the strength and great firepower of the battleships." [...]

He finally concludes, after having presented their technical data:

Quote:

[...] "They paid themselves off to a much higher degree than other warships. They participated with success in the fighting of World War I, and when the Second World War began, they still were present." [...] "Four of them also survived the Second World War. Only Barham was sunk by German torpedoes, in November, 1941."

A most fitting tribute to what many consider the finest ever class of warships built, in any age, any nation!

Here's the Barham according to Mr Landström's interpretation:
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I never knew these were such well-loved ships. I've always liked the look of them but never connected the dots that the Barham that was sunk so famously on video was the same one from Jutland, and that the other units in the class were present at Gallipoli etc. I may have to break down and buy that 1/350 HMS Warspite...

Shipbucket

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