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The Mary Rose was an English Tudor carrack warship and one of the first to be able to fire a full broadside of cannons. The Mary Rose was well equipped with 78 guns (91 after an upgrade in 1536). Built in Portsmouth, England (1509–1510) she was thought to be named after King Henry VIII's sister Mary and the rose, the Tudor emblem. She was one of the earliest purpose-built warships to serve in the English Navy; it is thought that she never served as a merchant ship. She displaced 500 tons (700 tons after 1536), was 38.5 m long and 11.7 m abeam and her crew consisted of 200 sailors, 185 soldiers, and 30 gunners. Although she was the pride of the English fleet, she was sunk in the Solent, and it is thought she sank during an engagement with the French fleet on July 19, 1545. The exact cause of her sinking has not been definitely determined but is thought to be because of instability. The surviving section of the ship was raised in 1982 and is now on display in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard along with an extensive collection of well preserved artifacts.

In 1545, King Francis I of France launched an invasion of England with 30,000 soldiers in more than 200 ships. Against this invasion fleet—larger than the Spanish Armada forty-three years later—the English had about 80 ships and 12,000 soldiers, with the Mary Rose the flagship of Vice Admiral Sir George Carew. In early July the French entered the Solent channel, between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. On July 19, 1545 (see Battle of the Solent) the English came out of Portsmouth and engaged the French at long range, little damage being done on either side. The next day was calm, and the French employed their galleys against the immobile English vessels. Toward evening a breeze sprang up and as Mary Rose advanced to battle she capsized and sank with the loss of all but 35 of her crew. There were sources that said that the ship had fired from the portside and made a sharp turn so it could fire from the starboard side. The turn was so sharp that the ship keeled over to one side but at the same time the gun ports were open so that water rushed in and the ship sank. Sources also suggest that the Mary Rose had the gunports too low for it to be stable. Furthermore, the ship was carrying a large number of soldiers on her upper decks, with the possible result of further raising her centre of gravity and making her even more unstable. As was common in warships of the time, the upper decks were covered with netting to prevent soldiers from enemy ships from boarding. When the Mary Rose sank, this netting prevented many from escaping in time and contributed to the high percentage of casualties. Furthermore many sailors could not swim, as having a reputation for superstition, they regarded this as tempting fate. Losses were therefore particularly severe.