HMS Queen Mary
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The HMS Queen Mary ( English HMS = His / Her Majesty's Ship ) was a battle cruiser of the Royal Navy . She was the slightly improved third ship in the Lion class . The Queen Mary , like the passenger ships Queen Mary and Queen Mary 2 , was named after Maria von Teck .
The commandant of the Queen Mary during the Battle of the Skagerrak was Captain Cecil I. Prowse . There she received several hits from the German great cruisers Derfflinger and Seydlitz on May 31, 1916 , whereupon she exploded and sank. 1,266 men of the crew including the commander Captain Prowse were killed. Two of the survivors were picked up by German ships.
“Soon the British light cruisers came into view, and behind them thick clouds of smoke. Then masts and large hulls loom over the horizon. There they were again, our friends from Dogger Bank. At 3:45 p.m. we opened fire. After a short time the HMS Indefatigable blew up , followed 20 minutes later by the Queen Mary , our target as Tactical Ship No. 3. The spectacle was overwhelming, there was a moment of total silence, then the calm voice of the artillery observer announced ' Queen Mary explodes', which was immediately followed by the command 'pan right to target', given by the artillery officer in the same busy tone as in a normal target exercise. "
The wreck of the Queen Mary was only located in 1991 and has occasionally dived with Trimix since then . It lies at a depth of 60 m on sandy ground and rises up to a maximum of 44 meters. Due to the relatively great depth of the water, it has been largely spared commercial salvage operations, through which other wrecks from the sea battle were partially badly affected. The hull, torn open and badly damaged by the explosion, lies with the keel up on the ground and has largely buried superstructures and turrets. The front part has been torn off at about the height of the second turret. On the wreck you can see, among other things, an open magazine for the 13.5-inch shells of the main artillery, an upside-down gun turret, steam boiler, a dinghy and a marine life that is unusually rich for the North Sea . Visibility at the wreck site is usually excellent and ranges from 20 to 30 meters. The current is usually weak.
Since May 31, 2006, the 90th anniversary of the battle, the wreck of the Queen Mary has been protected as a "Protected Place" by the British " Protection of Military Remains Act " of 1986. It may be viewed from outside by divers, but entering, collecting souvenirs or performing salvage work is prohibited.
literature
- Robert Gardiner (Ed.): Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921 . Conway Maritime Press, London 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5 , pp. 31 (English).
Web links
Footnotes
Coordinates: 56 ° 42 ′ 57 ″ N , 5 ° 8 ′ 33 ″ E