19 July 1545
The Battle of the Solent
The Battle of the Solent was on 19 July 1545, the Trust says. Mary Rose Trust The Mary Rose sank during the Battle of the Solent, a confrontation between French and English troops on the Isle of Wight, and a face-off between their fleets in the Solent between the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth. Mary Rose Trust The French, that page says, had superior numbers — over 200 ships carrying 30,000 soldiers, much larger than the later Spanish Armada, compared with the 80 ships of the English fleet. Mary Rose Trust
John Dudley, Viscount Lisle and Lord Admiral, led from his flagship the Henry Grace à Dieu, on which Henry VIII dined the night before battle began. It was during this dinner that Henry gave command of the Mary Rose to Vice Admiral George Carew. Mary Rose Trust
Henry watched from Southsea Castle as the battle progressed, the Trust says. Mary Rose Trust It was from Southsea Castle, the Trust says, that Henry VIII witnessed the sinking of his favourite warship during the Battle of the Solent on 19 July 1545. Mary Rose Trust Work began on constructing Southsea Castle in a second phase of building that started in 1544, to protect the Solent and Portsea Island from invasion. Mary Rose Trust Southsea Castle didn’t take part in the fighting, the Trust says, but it provided a strategic vantage point for Henry and his land army to observe the battle, and watch the Mary Rose as it sank. Mary Rose Trust
On 19 July 1545, while Henry VIII watched, the Mary Rose sank very quickly in the Solent, between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. Royal Museums Greenwich