Why armoured-cruiser losses could take every hand

What made armoured cruisers such as Black Prince and Defence so deadly to their own crews when sunk?

The all-hands losses chiefly reflected the circumstances in which those ships were destroyed.

The all-hands losses of Black Prince and Defence arose from the tactical circumstances in which those ships were destroyed. No single defect made every armoured cruiser equally lethal to its crew. Late examples belonged to an evolutionary path toward dreadnought cruisers, carrying greater fighting power without eliminating catastrophic failure modes. Engagement geometry, damage, and the manner of sinking matter more than ship type alone.