If the altered Mediterranean war does not require HMS Queen Elizabeth at Gallipoli, she remains available to the Grand Fleet. The scenario places her either as a fifth ship in Fifth Battle Squadron or as Jellicoe's flagship, adding another modern 15-inch-gun battleship to the order of battle. The German operation sought to isolate and destroy a manageable part of the Royal Navy while taking minimal losses, not to find the fast British battleships immediately behind Beatty. Fifth Battle Squadron combined the fleet's largest guns with strong fire control and highly trained crews. Discovering four or five such ships while German battlecruisers were already being lost would turn the intended ambush into the High Seas Fleet's worst case.
Notable Point · 50:36-52:54
Queen Elizabeth joins Germany's worst-case force
A changed Dardanelles campaign leaves HMS Queen Elizabeth available for Jutland, adding another 15-inch ship to the force Germany least wanted to discover behind Beatty.