A 'Queen Elizabeth'-class battleship firing her forward guns, probably in gunnery practice RMG PV3352, William Lionel Wyllie, 1915

A 'queen elizabeth'-class battleship firing her forward guns, probably in gunnery practice this is a study of a 'queen elizabeth'-class battleship firing her 'a'- and 'b'-turret main armament in the period 1915-16 and may well be the 'queen elizabeth' herself. Only that ship and her sisters 'barham' and 'valiant' were completed with the second yard on the foremast and it was removed from all of them in 1916. Though previously titled 'jutland' , that is not a battle scene. The speed of the ship is too slow and her stern turrets are still trained aft, the sea is too too calm and the acompanying destroyers too close and not making enough smoke. What it probably shows is gunnery practice within the confines of scapa flow. Date: 1915. Dimensions: 253 mm x 380 mm. Collection: Fine art.