HMS Queen Mary explodes during the Battle of Jutland, May 31, 1916
She was hit twice by the German battlecruiser
Derfflinger during the early part of the battle and her
magazines exploded shortly afterwards, sinking the ship.
One shell hit forward and detonated one or both of the forward
magazines, which broke the ship in two near the
foremast. Stationed inside 'Q' turret,
Midshipman Jocelyn Latham Storey survived and reported that there had been a large explosion forward which rocked the turret, breaking the left gun in half, the gun breech falling into the working chamber and the right gun coming off its trunnions. Cordite in the working chamber caught fire and produced poisonous fumes that asphyxiated some of the turret's crew. It is doubtful that an explosion forward could have done this, so 'Q' turret may have been struck by the second shell. A further explosion, possibly from shells breaking loose, shook the aft end of the ship as it began to roll over and sink.
Tiger, the battlecruiser behind her, was showered with debris from the explosion and forced to steer to port to avoid her remains. 1,266 crewmen were lost; eighteen survivors were picked up by the destroyers
Laurel,
Petard, and
Tipperary, and two by the Germans.
Queen Mary, along with the other Jutland wrecks, has been declared a
protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 to discourage further damage to the resting place of 1,266 officers and men. Surveys of this site conducted by nautical archaeologist
Innes McCartney in 2001–03 have shown the wreck is in three sections, with the two forward sections being heavily damaged and in pieces. Her aft end is upside down and relatively complete except for her propellers, which have been salvaged. Examination of the damage to the ship has suggested that the initial explosion was not in the magazine of 'A' or 'B' forward main turrets, but instead in the magazine of the forward 4-inch battery. An explosion of the quantity of cordite in the main magazine would have been sufficient to also ignite 'Q' magazine, destroying much more of the ship. The explosion in the smaller magazine would have been sufficient to break the ship in two, the blast then spreading to the forward magazine and ripping apart the forward section