King Edward VII Class Battleship - Operational History

Operational History

The King Edward VIIs served together as a tactical unit during much of their careers, operating in the Atlantic Fleet, Channel Fleet, and Home Fleet before World War I. They formed the 3rd Battle Squadron in 1912, with individual ships leaving the squadron between 1916 and 1918. The squadron served in the Mediterranean during the First Balkan War in 1912–1913 and in the Grand Fleet for most of the first half of World War I, although it was detached to the Channel Fleet for a time in 1914 and two ships served in the Dardanelles Campaign (1915–1916). The ships were treated as expendable while with the Grand Fleet, which routinely placed them at the heads of divisions of the more valuable dreadnoughts to protect the dreadnoughts by watching for mines or being the first to strike mines. The 3rd Battle Squadron left the Grand Fleet in 1916; as it gradually broke up between 1916 and 1918, some ships served in the Adriatic Sea and Atlantic, while others performed subsidiary duties in home wates or went into reserve. Two were lost during World War I and those that survived the war were sold for scrapping in 1920 and 1921.