Operational History
The Majestics served in home waters and the Mediterranean (and Victorious served briefly on the China Station) from their introduction in the 1890s until World War I began in August 1914. Like all pre-dreadnoughts, the Majestics were effectively made obsolete by the introduction of Dreadnought in 1906, and by the beginning of World War I, they were (with the exception of the Royal Sovereign class battleship HMS Revenge), the oldest and least effective battleships in service in the Royal Navy. Majestic and Prince George saw active service early in the war, Majestic bombarding German positions in Belgium in 1914 and both ships in action against Ottoman forts and shore batteries in the Dardanelles Campaign in 1915–1916, during which Majestic became the only ship of the class to be lost. The rest of the ships spent the early months or years of the war on guard ship duties before being disarmed for subsidiary service as troopships, depot ships, and ammunition ships during the war's later years and the immediate post-war period, although Caesar survived in battleship form as a guardship until 1918. All surviving ships were scrapped between 1919 and 1923.
Read more about this topic: Majestic Class Battleship
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