Many thanks to Bruce T. Swain for writing this page

Warspite @ 1:600, early war with no armament additions; copyright Andrew Arthur

1:600 line drawing of Barham, in the camouflage she wore when she was sunk. She was little modified from how all the class looked in the 1920's and early 1930's. copyright Andrew Arthur

1:600 Malaya after her 1930's rebuild. The quad machine-guns have yet to be added, and there are two HA.DCT's controlling four twin 4" AA, © Andrew Arthur

1:600 Queen Elizabeth, in 1943. Valiant very similar. 20mm AA hae been added ( two twins on turrets, 6 singles on bridge and two singles on the after superstructure. ) © Andrew Arthur

The "Queen Elizabeth" Class battleships were developed from the "Iron Dukes", and were the first British battleships to mount 15" guns. All saw service in World War I as "fast battleships", frequently operating with battelcruisers as the 5th Battle Squadron.
All five ships were reconstructed between 1924 and 1933, with new machinery being installed and the twin funnels being trunked into one.
Warspite underwent a second reconstruction from 1934 to 1937 which completely altered her appearance. She was given a new tower superstructure, a thinner funnel, and a new secondary and anti-aircraft armament.
Queen Elizabeth and Valiant were similarly reconstructed between 1937 and 1940, but were given a different secondary and anti-aircraft armament to Warspite, and the bridgework was quite different.
Reconstructions on the same scale were planned for Barham and Malaya, but were cancelled due to the imminence of war, although Malaya got a midships hangar and athwartships catapult, Barham made do with a catapult on "X" turret.
The most famous of the 5 ships was undoubtedly Warspite, who fought in the Second Battle of Narvik on 13 April 1940, the Battle of Calabria on 9 July 1940 and the Battle of Cape Matapan on 27 March 1941. She also carried out numerous bombardments, finishing at Walcheren on 1 November 1944. By that stage, after being damaged by a glider bomb on 16 September 1943 and a mine in June 1944, her Y-turret was inoperable and her maximum speed was only 15 knots.
Queen Elizabeth and Valiant were both badly damaged by Limpet mines in Alexandria on 19 December 1941 and were under repair for many months.

Pictures of Queen Elizabeth class Battleships

Queen Elizabeth in Plymouth Sound. Note barrage balloon.

Valiant. Note Oerlikons in gun bucket aft and compare with 15" guns!

The details below refer to the ships as they were in 1939.