Vice-Admiral, Sir George Carew (c. 1504 – 19 July 1545) was an English soldier, admiral and adventurer during the reign of King Henry VIII who died in the sinking of the Royal Navy flagship Mary Rose at the Battle of the Solent during an attempted French invasion in the Italian War of 1542–1546.

[2] Carew took pains during this period to distance himself from the Roman Catholic upbringing he had in the household of the Marquess of Exeter and openly supported Protestant groups who had fled to Calais after persecution elsewhere in Europe.

[2] Apparently bored with Rysbank and political life, in the summer of 1543 Carew applied to join the army of Sir John Wallop in Flanders as a lieutenant general of horse.

At Landrecis, Carew twice came close to disaster, almost being killed by a sniper's bullet during the summer and in November actually being captured after pursuing a fleeing band of French cavalry too far and finding himself isolated.

In July 1545, with a French invasion expected, Carew was summoned to King Henry VIII's council of war aboard his flagship Great Harry in Portsmouth.

It may never be known exactly why the Mary Rose sank in the entrance to Portsmouth harbour on 19 July 1545, but it is believed that water entered open gunports after firing a broadside and the ship went down in minutes.

Modern studies have also indicated that the aging 700-ton warship was dangerously overloaded, with heavy bronze cannon that she was not designed to carry, and nearly 500 men aboard, many dressed in full armour.

[2] Scientific examination of the crew's skulls has revealed that the majority of the men aboard 'Mary Rose' the day she foundered were probably from Southern Europe, maybe mercenaries or prisoners of war.

Henry VIII watched from Southsea Castle as the Mary Rose heeled over and sank shortly after joining the battle, and heard the screams of her drowning crew, most of whom were trapped beneath a heavy anti-boarding net stretched across her weather deck.