Interesting stuff, and over the past couple of years some interesting things have been found out. One such thing has been work done by Southampton University relating to the supposed weakness in the design of the Royal Navy's battlecruisers. It has been established that on going into action, to increase their rate of fire flash doors were secured open in the Royal Navy's ships. This was not done in the German ships.

Tank models of both a German battlecruiser [SMS Seydlitz - survived battle badly damaged] and a RN battlecruiser [Queen Mary - blew up and sank] were made and subjected to exactly the same damage as was sustained by Seydlitz. Both vessels were put into exactly the same damage control state [dictates watertight integrity]. Seydlitz was hit 21 times by heavy calibre shells and was also torpedoed. The results of these tests showed that in the same damage control state both ships survived, if anything the Queen Mary being in slightly better state than Seydlitz.

Most accurate lines in any of the songs detailed above belongs to the late Keith A of Hertford's song:

"In the deep magazines the mighty guns ordnance,
Those thousands of shells stacked ready for use,
And up through the bulkheads up hoists to the turrets,
The cordite propellant stretched out like a fuse."

In the earlier battle of the Dogger Bank, Seydlitz received a direct hit on her after turret that almost resulted in a magazine explosion - this near miss was examined by the German Imperial Navy after the battle and drill and procedures were altered throughout the German Fleet.