During the Great War, the battleships of the British Grand Fleet were based in Scapa Flow in the Orkneys whilst the faster battle-cruisers were berthed in the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, from where they could steam at high speed out into the North Sea when required.

The battle-cruiser squadron was initially commanded by the dashing Admiral Sir David Beatty, but once he assumed overall command of the fleet after Jutland (in 1916), Rear-Admiral Packenham took over at Rosyth. Soon after the Great War ended with the Armistice of November 1918, most of the battle fleet was temporarily laid up in the Forth, including the five mighty 'Queen Elizabeth' class battleships often referred to both in awe as well as affection as the 'Super' dreadnoughts. H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth herself had been Beatty's flagship from 1916 and remained so until the Grand Fleet itself was dispersed and replaced by the new Atlantic and Home Fleets.

Although undated any more specifically than simply '1919', it seems possible that this view shows one of the last sightings of the great ships in Scottish waters before they were dispatched south to their new stations that April.