In the First World War, "Queen Elizabeth" was detached from the squadron and took part in the Dardanelles Campaign, but missed Jutland as she was undergoing dock maintenance. At the Battle of Jutland, four of the ships formed Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas's 5th Battle Squadron, and in the clash with the German 1st Scouting Group under Admiral Franz von Hipper they "fired with extraordinary rapidity and accuracy" (according to Admiral Scheer, commander of the High Seas Fleet), damaging and and a number of other German warships. These battleships were able to engage German battlecruisers at a range of 19,000 yards (17,400 m), which was beyond the maximum range of the Germans' guns. Three of the "Queen Elizabeth"s received hits from German warships during the engagement, yet they all returned home. "Warspite" was the most heavily damaged, with her rudder jammed and taking fifteen hits, coming close to foundering. Between the wars, the ships received considerable upgrades, including new machinery, small-tube boilers, deck armour upgrades, torpedo belt armour, trunked funnels, new secondary armament and anti-aircraft armament, and many improvements in gunlaying and electronics. "Queen Elizabeth", "Valiant", and "Warspite" were the most modernised, with all three receiving the new "Queen Anne's Mansions" block superstructure for the bridge, whilst twenty 4.5" dual-purpose guns in 10 turret mountings replaced the 6" casemate secondary weapons on "Queen Elizabeth" and "Valiant". "Warspite" kept her 6" secondary guns, now reduced to just four per battery. By the Second World War, the class were showing their age. "Barham" and "Malaya", the least-modernized of the class, were at a disadvantage compared to modern battleships. In spite of this, "Malaya" prevented an attack on a transatlantic convoy by the modern German battlecruisers and by her presence. "Queen Elizabeth", "Warspite", and "Valiant", the more modernised of the class, fared better. With her modern fire control equipment, "Warspite" scored a hit on an Italian battleship during the Battle of Calabria at a range of more than 26,000 yards, one of the longest range naval artillery hits in history. Modern torpedoes outclassed their torpedo belt protection: in November 1941, "Barham" was torpedoed by a U-boat and sank in five minutes, with the loss of over 800 of her crew, when her magazines detonated.