Editing Mary Rose (section)

=== Battle of the Solent ===
{{main|Battle of the Solent}}

The English were becalmed in port and unable to manoeuvre. On {{Nowrap|19 July}} 1545, the French galleys advanced on the immobilised English fleet, and initially threatened to destroy a force of 13 small galleys, or "rowbarges", the only ships that were able to move against them without a wind. The wind picked up and the sailing ships were able to go on the offensive before the oared vessels were overwhelmed.{{sfnp|Loades|1992|p=133}} Two of the largest ships, the ''Henry Grace à Dieu'' and the ''Mary Rose'', led the attack on the French galleys in the Solent.

[[File:Mary Rose - Oven & Cauldron.jpg|thumb|left|Oven & Cauldron]]

Early in the battle something went wrong. While engaging the French galleys the ''Mary Rose'' suddenly heeled (leaned) heavily over to her starboard (right) side and water rushed in through the open gunports.{{sfnp|Marsden|2003|pp=18–19}} The crew was powerless to correct the sudden imbalance, and could only scramble for the safety of the upper deck as the ship began to sink rapidly. As she leaned over, equipment, ammunition, supplies and storage containers shifted and came loose, adding to the general chaos. The massive port side brick oven in the [[galley (kitchen)|galley]] collapsed completely and the huge 360-litre (90 gallon) copper cauldron was thrown onto the orlop deck above.{{sfnp|Dobbs|2009|p=133}} Heavy guns came free and slammed into the opposite side, impeding escape or crushing men beneath them.

For those who were not injured or killed outright by moving objects, there was little time to reach safety, especially for the men who were manning the guns on the main deck or fetching ammunition and supplies in the hold. The [[companionway]]s that connected the decks with one another would have become bottlenecks for fleeing men, something indicated by the positioning of many of the skeletons recovered from the wreck. What turned the sinking into a major tragedy was the anti-boarding netting that covered the upper decks in the waist (the midsection of the ship) and the sterncastle. With the exception of the men who were stationed in the tops in the masts, most of those who managed to get up from below deck were trapped under the netting; they would have been in view of the surface, and their colleagues above, but with little or no chance to break through, and were dragged down with the ship. Out of a crew of at least 400, fewer than 35 escaped, a casualty rate of over 90%.{{sfnp|Gardiner|2005|pp=16–17}}{{sfnp|Marsden|2003|pp=133–134}}<ref>For more discussion supporting the suddenness and violent nature of the sinking, see also {{harvp|Gardiner|2005|pp=16–17}} and {{harvp|McKewan|2005|p=297}}</ref>

[[File:Cowdray engraving-straightened.jpg|alt=A naval battle close to land with opposing fleets on either side with tops of two masts protruding from the water, indicating the sunken ''Mary Rose''|thumb|upright=3.0|875px|center|The [[Cowdray engravings|Cowdray Engraving]], depicting the [[Battle of the Solent]]. The main and foremasts of the recently sunken ''Mary Rose'' are in the middle; bodies, debris and rigging float in the water and men are clinging to the fighting tops. [[Southsea Castle]] is at centre left.]]