German cruiser Prinz Eugen
Encyclopedia
Prinz Eugen (ˈpʁɪnts ɔʏˈɡeːn) was an Admiral Hipper-class
heavy cruiser
, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German
Kriegsmarine
during World War II
. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940. The ship was named after Prince Eugene of Savoy
, an 18th century Austrian general.
Prinz Eugen saw extensive action during Operation Rheinübung
, an attempted breakout into the Atlantic Ocean with the battleship Bismarck
in May 1941. The two ships engaged the British battlecruiser and battleship in the Battle of Denmark Strait, during which Hood was destroyed and Prince of Wales was severely damaged. Prinz Eugen was detached from Bismarck during the operation to raid Allied merchant shipping, but this was cut short due to engine troubles. After putting in to occupied France and undergoing repairs, the ship participated in Operation Cerberus
, a daring daylight dash through the English Channel
back to Germany. In February 1942, Prinz Eugen was deployed to Norway, although her time stationed there was cut short when she was torpedoed by the British submarine days after arriving in Norwegian waters. The torpedo severely damaged the ship's stern, which necessitated repairs in Germany.
Upon returning to active service, the ship spent several months training new officer cadet
s in the Baltic before serving as artillery support to the retreating German Army on the Eastern Front
. After the German collapse in May 1945, the ship was surrendered to the British Royal Navy
before being transferred to the US Navy as a war prize. After examining the ship in the United States, the US Navy assigned the cruiser to the Operation Crossroads
nuclear tests in the Bikini Atoll
. After surviving both atomic blasts, Prinz Eugen was towed to Kwajalein Atoll where she ultimately capsized and sank in December 1946. The wreck remains partially visible above the water; one of her screws was salvaged and is on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial
in Germany.
. Her keel was laid on 23 April 1936, under construction number 564. She was originally to be named after Wilhelm von Tegetthoff
, the Austrian victor of the Battle of Lissa
, though considerations over the possible insult to Italy, defeated by Tegetthoff at Lissa, led to the Kriegsmarine to adopt Prinz Eugen
as the ship's namesake. The ship was launched on 22 August 1938, and was completed two years later, on 1 August 1940, the day she was commissioned into the German fleet. As built, the ship had a straight stem
, though after her launch this was replaced with a clipper
bow. A raked funnel cap was also installed.
Prinz Eugen was 207.7 metres (681.4 ft) long overall and had a beam of 21.7 m (71.2 ft) and a maximum draft of 7.2 m (23.6 ft). The ship had a design displacement of 16970 MT (16,701.9 LT) and a full load displacement of 18750 LT. Prinz Eugen was powered by three sets of geared steam turbine
s, which were supplied with steam by twelve ultra-high pressure oil-fired boiler
s. The ship's top speed was 32 knots (17.4 m/s), at 132000 shp. As designed, her standard complement consisted of 42 officers and 1,340 enlisted men.
Prinz Eugens primary armament was eight 20.3 cm (8 in) SK L/60
guns mounted in four twin gun turret
s, placed in superfiring pairs
forward and aft."L/60" denotes the length of the gun in terms of calibers
. The length of 60 caliber gun is 60 times greater than it is wide in diameter Her anti-aircraft battery was to have consisted of twelve 10.5 cm (4.1 in) L/65 guns, twelve 3.7 cm (1.5 in) guns, and eight 2 cm (0.78740157480315 in) guns. The ship also would have carried a pair of triple 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo launchers abreast of the rear superstructure. The ship was to have been equipped with three Arado Ar 196
seaplanes and one catapult. Prinz Eugens armored belt
was 70 millimetre thick; her upper deck was 12 millimetre thick while the main armored deck was 20 millimetre thick. The main battery turrets had 105 mm (4.1 in) thick faces and 70 mm thick sides.
In early July 1940, shortly before her commissioning, Prinz Eugen was attacked by British bombers; the ship was struck by only one bomb. She was not seriously damaged, however, and was commissioned into service the following month. Prinz Eugen spent the remainder of 1940 conducting sea trials in the Baltic Sea
. In early 1941, the ship's artillery crews conducted gunnery training. A short period in dry dock for final modifications and improvements followed. In April, the ship joined the newly commissioned battleship Bismarck
for maneuvers in the Baltic. The two ships had been selected for Operation Rheinübung
, a breakout into the Atlantic to raid Allied commerce.
On 23 April, while passing through the Fehmarn
Belt en route to Kiel
, Prinz Eugen detonated a magnetic mine dropped by British aircraft. The mine caused serious damage, including a ruptured fuel tank, damaged propeller shaft couplings, and damaged fire control equipment. The planned sortie with Bismarck was delayed while repairs were carried out. Admirals Erich Raeder
and Günther Lütjens
discussed the possibility of delaying the operation further, in the hopes that repairs to the battleship Scharnhorst
would be completed or Bismarcks sistership Tirpitz
would complete trials in time for the ships to join Prinz Eugen and Bismarck. Raeder and Lütjens decided that it would be most beneficial to resume surface actions in the Atlantic as soon as possible, however, so the two ships would sortie without reinforcement.
, steamed to Gotenhafen, where her crew readied the ship for the sortie. On 18 May, Prinz Eugen rendezvoused with Bismarck off Cape Arkona
. The two ships were escorted by three destroyers—Hans Lody
, Friedrich Eckoldt
, and Z23
—and a flotilla of minesweepers. The Luftwaffe
provided air cover during the voyage out of German waters. At around 13:00 on 20 May, the German flotilla encountered the Swedish cruiser ; the cruiser shadowed the Germans for two hours in the Kattegat
. Gotland transmitted a report to naval headquarters, stating: "Two large ships, three destroyers, five escort vessels, and 10–12 aircraft passed Marstrand
, course 205°/20'." The OKM was not concerned about the security risk posed by Gotland, though Lütjens believed operational security had been lost. The report eventually made its way to Captain Henry Denham, the British naval attaché to Sweden, who transmitted the information to the Admiralty
.
The code-breakers at Bletchley Park
confirmed that an Atlantic raid was imminent, as they had decrypted reports that Bismarck and Prinz Eugen had taken on prize crews and requested additional navigational charts from headquarters. A pair of Supermarine Spitfire
s were ordered to search the Norwegian coast for the German flotilla. On the evening of 20 May, Prinz Eugen and the rest of the flotilla reached the Norwegian coast; the minesweepers were detached and the two raiders and their destroyer escorts continued north. The following morning, radio-intercept officers on board Prinz Eugen picked up a signal ordering British reconnaissance aircraft to search for two battleships and three destroyers northbound off the Norwegian coast. At 7:00 on the 21st, the Germans spotted four unidentified aircraft, though they quickly departed. Shortly after 12:00, the flotilla reached Bergen
and anchored at Grimstadfjord. While there, the ships' crews painted over the Baltic camouflage with the standard "outboard gray" worn by German warships operating in the Atlantic.
While in Bergen, Prinz Eugen took on 764 MT (751.9 LT) of fuel; Bismarck inexplicably failed to similarly refuel. At 19:30 on 21 May, Prinz Eugen, Bismarck, and the three escorting destroyers left port. By midnight, the force was in the open sea and headed toward the Arctic Ocean. At this time, Admiral Raeder finally informed Hitler of the operation, who reluctantly allowed it to continue as planned. The three escorting destroyers were detached at 04:14 on 22 May, while the force steamed off Trondheim
. At around 12:00, Lütjens ordered his two ships to turn toward the Denmark Strait to attempt the breakout into the open waters of the Atlantic.
By 04:00 on 23 May, Lütjens ordered Prinz Eugen and Bismarck to increase speed to 27 kn (14.7 m/s) to make the dash through the Denmark Strait. Upon entering the Strait, both ships activated their FuMo radar detection equipment sets. Bismarck led Prinz Eugen by about 700 m (2,296.6 ft); mist reduced visibility to 3000 metre. The Germans encountered some ice at around 10:00, which necessitated a reduction in speed to 24 kn (13.1 m/s). Two hours later, the pair had reached a point north of Iceland. The ships were forced to zigzag to avoid ice floes. At 19:22, hydrophone and radar operators aboard the German warships detected the cruiser at a range of approximately 12500 m (41,010.5 ft). Prinz Eugens radio-intercept team decrypted the radio signals being sent by Suffolk and learned that their location had indeed been reported.
Admiral Lütjens gave permission for Prinz Eugen to engage Suffolk, though the captain of the German cruiser could not clearly make out his target and so held his ship's fire. Suffolk quickly retreated to a safe distance and shadowed the German ships. At 20:30, the heavy cruiser joined Suffolk, but approached the German raiders too closely. Lütjens ordered his ships to engage the British cruiser; Bismarck fired five salvoes, three of which straddled Norfolk and rained shell splinters on her decks. The cruiser laid a smoke screen and fled into a fog bank, ending the brief engagement. The concussion from the 38 cm guns firing disabled Bismarcks FuMo 23 radar set; this prompted Lütjens to order Prinz Eugen to take station ahead so she could use her functioning radar to scout for the formation.
The cruisers remained in their stations through the night, continually relaying the location and bearing of the German ships. The harsh weather broke on the morning of 24 May, revealing a clear sky. At 05:07 that morning, hydrophone operators aboard Prinz Eugen detected a pair of unidentified vessels approaching the German formation at a range of 20 nmi (37 km), reporting "Noise of two fast-moving turbine ships at 280° relative bearing!". At 05:45, lookouts on the German ships spotted smoke on the horizon; these turned out to be from and , under the command of Vice Admiral
Lancelot Holland
. Lütjens ordered his ships' crews to battle stations. By 05:52, the range had fallen to 26000 m (85,301.8 ft) and Hood opened fire, followed by Prince of Wales a minute later. Hood engaged Prinz Eugen, which the British thought to be Bismarck, while Prince of Wales fired on Bismarck.
The British ships approached the German ships head on, which permitted them to use only their forward guns, while Bismarck and Prinz Eugen could fire full broadside
s. Several minutes after opening fire, Holland ordered a 20° turn to port, which would allow his ships to engage with their rear gun turrets. Both German ships concentrated their fire on Hood; about a minute after opening fire, Prinz Eugen scored a hit with a high-explosive 20.3 cm (8 in) shell; the explosion detonated Unrotated Projectile
ammunition and started a large fire, which was quickly extinguished. Holland then ordered a second 20° turn to port, to bring his ships on a parallel course with Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. By this time, Bismarck had found the range to Hood, so Lütjens ordered Prinz Eugen to shift fire and target Prince of Wales to keep both of his opponents under fire. Within a few minutes, Prinz Eugen scored a pair of hits on the battleship and reported a small fire to have been started.
Lütjens then ordered Prinz Eugen to drop behind Bismarck, so she could continue to monitor the location of Norfolk and Suffolk, which were still some 10 nautical mile to the east. At 06:00, Hood was completing the second turn to port when Bismarcks fifth salvo hit. Two of the shells landed short, striking the water close to the ship, but at least one of the 38 cm armour-piercing
shells struck Hood and penetrated her thin deck armor. The shell reached Hoods rear ammunition magazine and detonated 112 MT (110.2 LT) of cordite
propellant. The massive explosion broke the back of the ship between the main mast and the rear funnel; the forward section continued to move forward briefly before the in-rushing water caused the bow to rise into the air at a steep angle. The stern similarly rose upward as water rushed into the ripped-open compartments. In only eight minutes of firing, Hood had disappeared, taking all but three of her crew of 1,419 men with her.
After a few more minutes fighting, during which Prince of Wales scored three hits on Bismarck, the battered British battleship withdrew. The Germans ceased fire as the range widened, though Captain Ernst Lindemann
, Bismarcks commander, strongly advocated chasing Prince of Wales and destroying her. Lütjens firmly rejected the request, and instead ordered Bismarck and Prinz Eugen to head for the open waters of the North Atlantic. After the end of the engagement, Lütjens reported that a "Battlecruiser, probably Hood, sunk. Another battleship, King George V or Renown, turned away damaged. Two heavy cruisers maintain contact." At 08:01, he transmitted a damage report and his intentions to OKM, which were to detach Prinz Eugen for commerce raiding and to make for St. Nazaire for repairs. Shortly after 10:00, Lütjens ordered Prinz Eugen to fall behind Bismarck to discern the severity of the oil leakage from the bow hit. After confirming that "broad streams of oil on both sides of [Bismarcks] wake", Prinz Eugen returned to the forward position.
With the weather worsening, Lütjens attempted to detach Prinz Eugen at 16:40. The squall was not heavy enough to cover her withdrawal from Wake-Walker's cruisers, which continued to maintain radar contact. Prinz Eugen was therefore recalled temporarily. The cruiser was successfully detached at 18:14. Bismarck turned around to face the Wake-Walker's formation, forcing Suffolk to turn away at high speed. Prince of Wales fired twelve salvos at Bismarck, which responded with nine salvos, none of which hit. The action diverted British attention and permitted Prinz Eugen to slip away.
On 26 May, Prinz Eugen rendezvoused with the supply ship Spichern to refill her nearly-empty fuel tanks. The ship had suffered serious defects in her propulsion system, which necessitated a return to occupied France for repairs. On 31 May, the ship was joined by an escort of destroyers off the coast of France; The following day, she put into Brest
. Repairs lasted for the next eight months, during which Prinz Eugen and the other German warships in the area were repeatedly attacked by Allied bombers. On the night of 1–2 July, the ship was struck by bombs that killed or injured over 100 men.
had joined Prinz Eugen in Brest. The ships were continually threatened by Allied air attacks, and so Adolf Hitler
ordered their return to Germany. The intention was to deploy the vessels to Norway to interdict Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. Hitler insisted they would make the voyage via the English Channel
, despite the protests of Raeder. Vice Admiral Otto Ciliax
was given command of the operation. In early February, minesweepers
swept a route through the English Channel
, though the British failed to detect the activity.
At 23:00 on 11 February, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen left Brest. They entered the Channel an hour later; the three ships sped at 27 kn (14.7 m/s), hugging the French coast along the voyage. By 06:30, they had passed Cherbourg, at which point they were joined by a flotilla of torpedo boats. The torpedo boats were led by Kapitän
Erich Bey
, aboard the destroyer Z29
. General der Jagdflieger (General of Fighter Force) Adolf Galland
directed Luftwaffe fighter and bomber forces (Operation Donnerkeil
) during Cerberus. The fighters flew at masthead-height to avoid detection by the British radar network. Liaison officers were present on all three ships. German aircraft arrived later to jam British radar with chaff. By 13:00, the ships had cleared the Strait of Dover
, though half an hour later, a flight of six Swordfish torpedo bombers, with Spitfire
escort, attacked the Germans. The British failed to penetrate the Luftwaffe fighter shield, and all six Swordfish were destroyed.
Off Dover, Prinz Eugen came under fire from British coastal artillery batteries, though they scored no hits. Several Motor Torpedo Boat
s then attacked the ship, but Prinz Eugens destroyer escorts drove the vessels off before they could launch their torpedoes. At 16:43, Prinz Eugen encountered five British destroyers: , , , , and . She fired her main battery at them and scored several hits on Worcester, but she was forced to maneuver erratically to avoid their torpedoes. Nevertheless, Prinz Eugen arrived in Brunsbüttel
on the morning of 13 February, completely undamaged.
, Paul Jakobi
, Z25
, Hermann Schoemann
, and Friedrich Ihn
steamed to Norway. After stopping briefly in Grimstadfjord, the ships proceeded on to Trondheim. Two days later, while steaming off the Trondheimsfjord
, the British submarine torpedoed Prinz Eugen. The torpedo struck the ship in the stern, causing serious damage and rendering the ship unmaneuverable. She was towed to Lofjord, where, over the span of the next few months, emergency repairs were effected. Her entire stern was cut away and plated over and two jury-rigged rudders, operated manually via capstans
, were installed.
On 16 May, Prinz Eugen made the return voyage to Germany under her own power. While en route to Kiel, the ship was attacked by a British force of 19 bombers and 27 torpedo bombers, though they failed to hit the ship. Prinz Eugen was out of service for repairs until October; she conducted sea trials beginning on 27 October. Over the next two months, the ship was occupied with lengthy trials in the Baltic. In early January 1943, the Kriegsmarine ordered the ship to return to Norway to reinforce the warships stationed there. Twice in January Prinz Eugen attempted to steam to Norway with Scharnhorst, but both attempts were broken off after British surveillance aircraft spotted the two ships. After it became apparent that it would be impossible to move the ship to Norway, Prinz Eugen was assigned to the Fleet Training Squadron. For nine months, she cruised the Baltic training new cadets.
As the Soviet Army
pushed the Wehrmacht
back on the Eastern Front
, it became necessary to reactivate Prinz Eugen as a gunnery support vessel. Therefore, on 1 October 1943, the ship was reassigned to combat duty. In June 1944, Prinz Eugen, the heavy cruiser Lützow, and the 6th Destroyer Flotilla formed the Second Task Force, later renamed the Thiele Task Force. Prinz Eugen was at this time steaming in the eastern Baltic, northwest of the island of Utö
. On 19–20 August, the ship steamed into the Gulf of Riga
and bombarded Tukums
. Four destroyers supported the action, along with Prinz Eugens Ar 196 floatplanes. Prinz Eugens bombardment was instrumental in the successful repulse of the Soviet attack.
In early September, Prinz Eugen supported a failed attempt to seize the fortress island of Hogland
. The ship then returned to Gotenhafen, before escorting a convoy of ships evacuating German soldiers from Finland. The convoy, consisting of six freighters, sailed on 15 September from the Gulf of Bothnia
, with the entire Second Task Force escorting it. Swedish aircraft and destroyers shadowed the convoy, but did not intervene. The following month, Prinz Eugen returned to gunfire support duties. On 11 and 12 October, the ship fired in support of German troops in Memel
. Over the first two days, the ship fired some 700 rounds of ammunition from her main battery. She returned on the 14th and 15th, after having restocked her main battery ammunition, to fire another 370 rounds.
While on the return voyage to Gotenhafen on 15 October, Prinz Eugen inadvertently rammed the light cruiser Leipzig
amidships north of Hela
. The collision occurred due to heavy fog. The light cruiser was nearly cut in half, and the two ships remained wedged together for fourteen hours. Prinz Eugen was taken to Gotenhafen where repairs were effected in the span of a month. On 20–21 November, the ship supported German troops on the Sworbe Peninsula by firing around 500 rounds of main battery ammunition. She then returned to Gotenhafen to resupply and have her worn out gun barrels re-bored.
The ship was ready for action by mid-January 1945, when she was sent to bombard Soviet forces in Samland. The ship fired over 870 rounds of ammunition at Soviet forces in Cranz
advancing on Königsberg
. At that point, Prinz Eugen had expended her main battery ammunition, but critical munition shortages forced the ship to remain in port until March, when she bombarded Soviet forces around Gotenhafen, Danzig, and Hela. The following month, on 8 April, Prinz Eugen and Lützow steamed to Swinemünde. On 13 April, 34 Lancaster bombers
attacked the two ships while in port. Thick cloud cover forced the British to abort the mission and return two days later. On the second attack, they succeeded in sinking Lützow with a single Tallboy bomb hit. Prinz Eugen then departed Swinemünde for Copenhagen
, arriving on 20 April. Once there, she was decommissioned on 7 May and turned over to Royal Navy
control the following day.
On 27 May 1945, Prinz Eugen and the light cruiser Nürnberg
were escorted by the British cruisers and to Wilhelmshaven
. On 13 December, the ship was awarded as a war prize to the United States, which sent the ship to Wesermünde. The cruiser was commissioned into the U.S. Navy as the unclassified miscellaneous vessel
USS Prinz Eugen (IX-300). A composite American-German crew, under the command of Captain A. H. Graubart, then took the ship to Boston
, departing on 13 January 1946 and arriving on 22 January. There, the ship was extensively examined by the US Navy. Her very large GHG passive sonar
array was removed and installed on the submarine for testing. American interest in magnetic amplifier
technology increased again after findings in investigations of the fire control system of Prinz Eugen.
The ship was then allocated to the fleet of target ships for Operation Crossroads
in Bikini Atoll
. Prinz Eugen was towed to the Pacific via Philadelphia and the Panama Canal
. The ship survived two atomic bomb blasts, Test Able, on 1 July 1946, and Test Baker on 25 July. Prinz Eugen was thoroughly contaminated with radioactive fallout, but suffered no structural damage from the explosions. The irradiated ship was towed to the Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific, where a small leak went unrepaired. On 29 August 1946, the US Navy decommissioned Prinz Eugen.
By late December 1946, the ship was in very bad condition; on the 21st, the ship began to list severely. A salvage team could not be brought to Kwajalein in time, so the US Navy attempted to beach the ship to prevent her from sinking, but on 22 December, Prinz Eugen capsized and sank. Her main battery gun turrets fell out of their barbette
s when the ship rolled over. The ship's stern, including her propeller assemblies, remain visible above the surface of the water. The US Government denied salvage rights, on the grounds that it did not want the irradiated steel entering the market. In August 1979, one of the ship's screws was retrieved and placed in the Laboe Naval Memorial
in Germany.
Admiral Hipper class cruiser
The Admiral Hipper-class was a group of five heavy cruisers built by the German Kriegsmarine in the mid 1930s. The class comprised Admiral Hipper, the lead ship, Blücher, Prinz Eugen, Seydlitz, and Lützow. Only the first three ships of the class were completed to see action during World War II...
heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940. The ship was named after Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy , was one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history, rising to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna. Born in Paris to aristocratic Italian parents, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV...
, an 18th century Austrian general.
Prinz Eugen saw extensive action during Operation Rheinübung
Operation Rheinübung
Operation Rheinübung was the sortie into the Atlantic by the new German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen on 18–27 May 1941, during World War II...
, an attempted breakout into the Atlantic Ocean with the battleship Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
in May 1941. The two ships engaged the British battlecruiser and battleship in the Battle of Denmark Strait, during which Hood was destroyed and Prince of Wales was severely damaged. Prinz Eugen was detached from Bismarck during the operation to raid Allied merchant shipping, but this was cut short due to engine troubles. After putting in to occupied France and undergoing repairs, the ship participated in Operation Cerberus
Operation Cerberus
The Channel Dash, , was a major naval engagement during World War II in which a German Kriegsmarine squadron consisting of both Scharnhorst class battleships, and heavy cruiser along with escorts, ran a British blockade and successfully sailed from Brest in Brittany to their home bases in Germany...
, a daring daylight dash through the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
back to Germany. In February 1942, Prinz Eugen was deployed to Norway, although her time stationed there was cut short when she was torpedoed by the British submarine days after arriving in Norwegian waters. The torpedo severely damaged the ship's stern, which necessitated repairs in Germany.
Upon returning to active service, the ship spent several months training new officer cadet
Officer Cadet
Officer cadet is a rank held by military and merchant navy cadets during their training to become commissioned officers and merchant navy officers, respectively. The term officer trainee is used interchangeably in some countries...
s in the Baltic before serving as artillery support to the retreating German Army on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
. After the German collapse in May 1945, the ship was surrendered to the British Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
before being transferred to the US Navy as a war prize. After examining the ship in the United States, the US Navy assigned the cruiser to the Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. It was the first test of a nuclear weapon after the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945...
nuclear tests in the Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....
. After surviving both atomic blasts, Prinz Eugen was towed to Kwajalein Atoll where she ultimately capsized and sank in December 1946. The wreck remains partially visible above the water; one of her screws was salvaged and is on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial
Laboe Naval Memorial
The Laboe Naval Memorial is a memorial located in Laboe, near Kiel, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Started in 1927 and completed in 1936, the monument originally memorialized the World War I war dead of the Kaiserliche Marine, with the Kriegsmarine dead of World War II being added after 1945...
in Germany.
Construction
Prinz Eugen was ordered by the Kriegsmarine from the Germaniawerft shipyard in KielKiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
. Her keel was laid on 23 April 1936, under construction number 564. She was originally to be named after Wilhelm von Tegetthoff
Wilhelm von Tegetthoff
Wilhelm von Tegetthoff was an Austrian admiral. Considered one of the prominent naval commanders of the 19th century, Tegetthoff was known for his innovative tactics as well as his inspirational leadership....
, the Austrian victor of the Battle of Lissa
Battle of Lissa (1866)
The Battle of Lissa took place on 20 July 1866 in the Adriatic Sea near the Dalmatian island of Lissa and was a decisive victory for an outnumbered Austrian Empire force over a superior Italian force...
, though considerations over the possible insult to Italy, defeated by Tegetthoff at Lissa, led to the Kriegsmarine to adopt Prinz Eugen
Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy , was one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history, rising to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna. Born in Paris to aristocratic Italian parents, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV...
as the ship's namesake. The ship was launched on 22 August 1938, and was completed two years later, on 1 August 1940, the day she was commissioned into the German fleet. As built, the ship had a straight stem
Stem (ship)
The stem is the very most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself and curves up to the wale of the boat. The stem is more often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively...
, though after her launch this was replaced with a clipper
Clipper
A clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the 19th century that had three or more masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight, small by later 19th century standards, and had a large total sail area...
bow. A raked funnel cap was also installed.
Prinz Eugen was 207.7 metres (681.4 ft) long overall and had a beam of 21.7 m (71.2 ft) and a maximum draft of 7.2 m (23.6 ft). The ship had a design displacement of 16970 MT (16,701.9 LT) and a full load displacement of 18750 LT. Prinz Eugen was powered by three sets of geared steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s, which were supplied with steam by twelve ultra-high pressure oil-fired boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
s. The ship's top speed was 32 knots (17.4 m/s), at 132000 shp. As designed, her standard complement consisted of 42 officers and 1,340 enlisted men.
Prinz Eugens primary armament was eight 20.3 cm (8 in) SK L/60
20.3 cm SK C/34 naval gun
The 20.3 cm SK C/34 naval gun was the main battery gun used on all German World War II heavy cruisers.-Description:These built-up guns consisted of a rifled tube encased within an inner and outer jacket with a horizontal sliding breech block. The breech was sealed with an 18 kg brass case...
guns mounted in four twin gun turret
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
s, placed in superfiring pairs
Superfire
The idea of superfire is to locate two turrets in a row, one behind the other, but with the second turret located above the one in front so that the second turret could fire over the first...
forward and aft."L/60" denotes the length of the gun in terms of calibers
Caliber (artillery)
In artillery, caliber or calibredifference in British English and American English spelling is the internal diameter of a gun barrel, or by extension a relative measure of the length....
. The length of 60 caliber gun is 60 times greater than it is wide in diameter Her anti-aircraft battery was to have consisted of twelve 10.5 cm (4.1 in) L/65 guns, twelve 3.7 cm (1.5 in) guns, and eight 2 cm (0.78740157480315 in) guns. The ship also would have carried a pair of triple 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo launchers abreast of the rear superstructure. The ship was to have been equipped with three Arado Ar 196
Arado Ar 196
-See also:-Bibliography:* Dabrowski, Hans-Peter and Koos, Volker. Arado Ar 196, Germany's Multi-Purpose Seaplane. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 1993. ISBN 0-88740-481-2....
seaplanes and one catapult. Prinz Eugens armored belt
Belt armor
Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated on to or within outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and on aircraft carriers converted from those types of ships....
was 70 millimetre thick; her upper deck was 12 millimetre thick while the main armored deck was 20 millimetre thick. The main battery turrets had 105 mm (4.1 in) thick faces and 70 mm thick sides.
Service history
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. In early 1941, the ship's artillery crews conducted gunnery training. A short period in dry dock for final modifications and improvements followed. In April, the ship joined the newly commissioned battleship Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
for maneuvers in the Baltic. The two ships had been selected for Operation Rheinübung
Operation Rheinübung
Operation Rheinübung was the sortie into the Atlantic by the new German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen on 18–27 May 1941, during World War II...
, a breakout into the Atlantic to raid Allied commerce.
On 23 April, while passing through the Fehmarn
Fehmarn
Fehmarn is an island and - since 2003 - a town on this island in the Baltic Sea, off the eastern coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and ca. 18 kilometers south of the Danish island of Lolland...
Belt en route to Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
, Prinz Eugen detonated a magnetic mine dropped by British aircraft. The mine caused serious damage, including a ruptured fuel tank, damaged propeller shaft couplings, and damaged fire control equipment. The planned sortie with Bismarck was delayed while repairs were carried out. Admirals Erich Raeder
Erich Raeder
Erich Johann Albert Raeder was a naval leader in Germany before and during World War II. Raeder attained the highest possible naval rank—that of Großadmiral — in 1939, becoming the first person to hold that rank since Alfred von Tirpitz...
and Günther Lütjens
Günther Lütjens
Günther Lütjens was a German Admiral whose military service spanned almost 30 years. Lütjens is best known for his actions during World War II, primarily his service as admiral of the squadron comprising and her consort, , during the Operation Rheinübung sortie.-Early career:Günther Lütjens was...
discussed the possibility of delaying the operation further, in the hopes that repairs to the battleship Scharnhorst
German battleship Scharnhorst
Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the lead ship of her class, which included one other ship, Gneisenau. The ship was built at the Kriegsmarinewerft dockyard in Wilhelmshaven; she was laid down on 15...
would be completed or Bismarcks sistership Tirpitz
German battleship Tirpitz
Tirpitz was the second of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Imperial Navy, the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and launched two and a half years later in April...
would complete trials in time for the ships to join Prinz Eugen and Bismarck. Raeder and Lütjens decided that it would be most beneficial to resume surface actions in the Atlantic as soon as possible, however, so the two ships would sortie without reinforcement.
Operation Rheinübung
By 11 May, repairs to Prinz Eugen were completed. The ship, under the command of Kapitän zur See Helmuth BrinkmannHelmuth Brinkmann
Helmuth Brinkmann was a Vice Admiral in the Kriegsmarine during the World War II who captained the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. Prior to World War II he commanded the Aviso Grille, Adolf Hitler's state yacht. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross...
, steamed to Gotenhafen, where her crew readied the ship for the sortie. On 18 May, Prinz Eugen rendezvoused with Bismarck off Cape Arkona
Cape Arkona
Cape Arkona is a cape on the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Cape Arkona is the tip of the Wittow peninsula, just a few kilometres north of the Jasmund National Park....
. The two ships were escorted by three destroyers—Hans Lody
German destroyer Z10 Hans Lody
Z10 Hans Lody was a built for the German Navy in the mid-1930s.-External links:*...
, Friedrich Eckoldt
German destroyer Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt
Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt was a built for the German Navy in the mid-1930s. At the beginning of World War II, the ship was initially deployed to blockade the Polish coast, but she was quickly transferred to the German Bight to lay minefields in German waters...
, and Z23
German destroyer Z23
Z23 was a built for the Kriegsmarine in the late 1930s.-External links:*...
—and a flotilla of minesweepers. The Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
provided air cover during the voyage out of German waters. At around 13:00 on 20 May, the German flotilla encountered the Swedish cruiser ; the cruiser shadowed the Germans for two hours in the Kattegat
Kattegat
The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by the Jutland peninsula and the Straits islands of Denmark on the west and south, and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland and Bohuslän in Sweden on the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Øresund and the Danish...
. Gotland transmitted a report to naval headquarters, stating: "Two large ships, three destroyers, five escort vessels, and 10–12 aircraft passed Marstrand
Marstrand
Marstrand is a seaside locality situated in Kungälv Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 1,432 inhabitants in 2005. It has held city privileges since 1200. The most striking feature about Marstrand is the 17th century fortress Carlsten, named after King Carl X Gustav of Sweden. The...
, course 205°/20'." The OKM was not concerned about the security risk posed by Gotland, though Lütjens believed operational security had been lost. The report eventually made its way to Captain Henry Denham, the British naval attaché to Sweden, who transmitted the information to the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
.
The code-breakers at Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...
confirmed that an Atlantic raid was imminent, as they had decrypted reports that Bismarck and Prinz Eugen had taken on prize crews and requested additional navigational charts from headquarters. A pair of Supermarine Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
s were ordered to search the Norwegian coast for the German flotilla. On the evening of 20 May, Prinz Eugen and the rest of the flotilla reached the Norwegian coast; the minesweepers were detached and the two raiders and their destroyer escorts continued north. The following morning, radio-intercept officers on board Prinz Eugen picked up a signal ordering British reconnaissance aircraft to search for two battleships and three destroyers northbound off the Norwegian coast. At 7:00 on the 21st, the Germans spotted four unidentified aircraft, though they quickly departed. Shortly after 12:00, the flotilla reached Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
and anchored at Grimstadfjord. While there, the ships' crews painted over the Baltic camouflage with the standard "outboard gray" worn by German warships operating in the Atlantic.
While in Bergen, Prinz Eugen took on 764 MT (751.9 LT) of fuel; Bismarck inexplicably failed to similarly refuel. At 19:30 on 21 May, Prinz Eugen, Bismarck, and the three escorting destroyers left port. By midnight, the force was in the open sea and headed toward the Arctic Ocean. At this time, Admiral Raeder finally informed Hitler of the operation, who reluctantly allowed it to continue as planned. The three escorting destroyers were detached at 04:14 on 22 May, while the force steamed off Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
. At around 12:00, Lütjens ordered his two ships to turn toward the Denmark Strait to attempt the breakout into the open waters of the Atlantic.
By 04:00 on 23 May, Lütjens ordered Prinz Eugen and Bismarck to increase speed to 27 kn (14.7 m/s) to make the dash through the Denmark Strait. Upon entering the Strait, both ships activated their FuMo radar detection equipment sets. Bismarck led Prinz Eugen by about 700 m (2,296.6 ft); mist reduced visibility to 3000 metre. The Germans encountered some ice at around 10:00, which necessitated a reduction in speed to 24 kn (13.1 m/s). Two hours later, the pair had reached a point north of Iceland. The ships were forced to zigzag to avoid ice floes. At 19:22, hydrophone and radar operators aboard the German warships detected the cruiser at a range of approximately 12500 m (41,010.5 ft). Prinz Eugens radio-intercept team decrypted the radio signals being sent by Suffolk and learned that their location had indeed been reported.
Admiral Lütjens gave permission for Prinz Eugen to engage Suffolk, though the captain of the German cruiser could not clearly make out his target and so held his ship's fire. Suffolk quickly retreated to a safe distance and shadowed the German ships. At 20:30, the heavy cruiser joined Suffolk, but approached the German raiders too closely. Lütjens ordered his ships to engage the British cruiser; Bismarck fired five salvoes, three of which straddled Norfolk and rained shell splinters on her decks. The cruiser laid a smoke screen and fled into a fog bank, ending the brief engagement. The concussion from the 38 cm guns firing disabled Bismarcks FuMo 23 radar set; this prompted Lütjens to order Prinz Eugen to take station ahead so she could use her functioning radar to scout for the formation.
The cruisers remained in their stations through the night, continually relaying the location and bearing of the German ships. The harsh weather broke on the morning of 24 May, revealing a clear sky. At 05:07 that morning, hydrophone operators aboard Prinz Eugen detected a pair of unidentified vessels approaching the German formation at a range of 20 nmi (37 km), reporting "Noise of two fast-moving turbine ships at 280° relative bearing!". At 05:45, lookouts on the German ships spotted smoke on the horizon; these turned out to be from and , under the command of Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...
Lancelot Holland
Lancelot Holland
Vice Admiral Lancelot Ernest Holland, CB commanded the British force in the Battle of Denmark Strait in May, 1941 against the German battleship Bismarck. Holland was killed during the battle.-Early life:...
. Lütjens ordered his ships' crews to battle stations. By 05:52, the range had fallen to 26000 m (85,301.8 ft) and Hood opened fire, followed by Prince of Wales a minute later. Hood engaged Prinz Eugen, which the British thought to be Bismarck, while Prince of Wales fired on Bismarck.
The British ships approached the German ships head on, which permitted them to use only their forward guns, while Bismarck and Prinz Eugen could fire full broadside
Broadside
A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...
s. Several minutes after opening fire, Holland ordered a 20° turn to port, which would allow his ships to engage with their rear gun turrets. Both German ships concentrated their fire on Hood; about a minute after opening fire, Prinz Eugen scored a hit with a high-explosive 20.3 cm (8 in) shell; the explosion detonated Unrotated Projectile
Unrotated Projectile
The Unrotated Projectile, or UP, was a short range rocket-firing anti-aircraft weapon developed for the Royal Navy to supplement the 2 pounder Pom-Pom gun due to a critical lack of close-range anti-aircraft weapons. It was used extensively by British ships during the early days of World War II...
ammunition and started a large fire, which was quickly extinguished. Holland then ordered a second 20° turn to port, to bring his ships on a parallel course with Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. By this time, Bismarck had found the range to Hood, so Lütjens ordered Prinz Eugen to shift fire and target Prince of Wales to keep both of his opponents under fire. Within a few minutes, Prinz Eugen scored a pair of hits on the battleship and reported a small fire to have been started.
Armor-piercing shot and shell
An armor-piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships. From the 1920s onwards, armor-piercing weapons were required for anti-tank missions...
shells struck Hood and penetrated her thin deck armor. The shell reached Hoods rear ammunition magazine and detonated 112 MT (110.2 LT) of cordite
Cordite
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom from 1889 to replace gunpowder as a military propellant. Like gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance...
propellant. The massive explosion broke the back of the ship between the main mast and the rear funnel; the forward section continued to move forward briefly before the in-rushing water caused the bow to rise into the air at a steep angle. The stern similarly rose upward as water rushed into the ripped-open compartments. In only eight minutes of firing, Hood had disappeared, taking all but three of her crew of 1,419 men with her.
After a few more minutes fighting, during which Prince of Wales scored three hits on Bismarck, the battered British battleship withdrew. The Germans ceased fire as the range widened, though Captain Ernst Lindemann
Ernst Lindemann
Otto Ernst Lindemann was a German naval captain. He was the only commander of the battleship during its eight months of service in World War II....
, Bismarcks commander, strongly advocated chasing Prince of Wales and destroying her. Lütjens firmly rejected the request, and instead ordered Bismarck and Prinz Eugen to head for the open waters of the North Atlantic. After the end of the engagement, Lütjens reported that a "Battlecruiser, probably Hood, sunk. Another battleship, King George V or Renown, turned away damaged. Two heavy cruisers maintain contact." At 08:01, he transmitted a damage report and his intentions to OKM, which were to detach Prinz Eugen for commerce raiding and to make for St. Nazaire for repairs. Shortly after 10:00, Lütjens ordered Prinz Eugen to fall behind Bismarck to discern the severity of the oil leakage from the bow hit. After confirming that "broad streams of oil on both sides of [Bismarcks] wake", Prinz Eugen returned to the forward position.
With the weather worsening, Lütjens attempted to detach Prinz Eugen at 16:40. The squall was not heavy enough to cover her withdrawal from Wake-Walker's cruisers, which continued to maintain radar contact. Prinz Eugen was therefore recalled temporarily. The cruiser was successfully detached at 18:14. Bismarck turned around to face the Wake-Walker's formation, forcing Suffolk to turn away at high speed. Prince of Wales fired twelve salvos at Bismarck, which responded with nine salvos, none of which hit. The action diverted British attention and permitted Prinz Eugen to slip away.
On 26 May, Prinz Eugen rendezvoused with the supply ship Spichern to refill her nearly-empty fuel tanks. The ship had suffered serious defects in her propulsion system, which necessitated a return to occupied France for repairs. On 31 May, the ship was joined by an escort of destroyers off the coast of France; The following day, she put into Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
. Repairs lasted for the next eight months, during which Prinz Eugen and the other German warships in the area were repeatedly attacked by Allied bombers. On the night of 1–2 July, the ship was struck by bombs that killed or injured over 100 men.
Operation Cerberus
By 1942, the battleships Scharnhorst and GneisenauGerman battleship Gneisenau
Gneisenau was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the second vessel of her class, which included one other ship, Scharnhorst. The ship was built at the Deutsche Werke dockyard in Kiel; she was laid down on 6 May 1935...
had joined Prinz Eugen in Brest. The ships were continually threatened by Allied air attacks, and so Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
ordered their return to Germany. The intention was to deploy the vessels to Norway to interdict Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. Hitler insisted they would make the voyage via the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, despite the protests of Raeder. Vice Admiral Otto Ciliax
Otto Ciliax
Otto Ciliax was an admiral in the German Navy. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross...
was given command of the operation. In early February, minesweepers
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
swept a route through the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, though the British failed to detect the activity.
At 23:00 on 11 February, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen left Brest. They entered the Channel an hour later; the three ships sped at 27 kn (14.7 m/s), hugging the French coast along the voyage. By 06:30, they had passed Cherbourg, at which point they were joined by a flotilla of torpedo boats. The torpedo boats were led by Kapitän
Kapitän
Kapitän is the German word for Captain. It is also a shortened version of several ranks in the German navy, ranging from Korvettenkapitän to Kapitän zur See. The general meaning is equivalent to Captain....
Erich Bey
Erich Bey
Erich Bey was a German naval officer who most notably served as a commander of the Kriegsmarine's destroyer forces and commanded the battleship Scharnhorst in the Battle of North Cape on 26 December 1943, during which the German ship was sunk. He was killed during that action. Bey was also a...
, aboard the destroyer Z29
German destroyer Z29
Z29 was a built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II.-External links:*...
. General der Jagdflieger (General of Fighter Force) Adolf Galland
Adolf Galland
Adolf "Dolfo" Joseph Ferdinand Galland was a German Luftwaffe General and flying ace who served throughout World War II in Europe. He flew 705 combat missions, and fought on the Western and the Defence of the Reich fronts...
directed Luftwaffe fighter and bomber forces (Operation Donnerkeil
Operation Donnerkeil
Unternehmen Donnerkeil was the codename for a German military operation of the Second World War. Donnerkeil was designed as an air superiority operation to support the Kriegsmarine Operation Cerberus, also known as the "Channel Dash".In 1941 Kriegsmarine surface vessels had carried out commerce...
) during Cerberus. The fighters flew at masthead-height to avoid detection by the British radar network. Liaison officers were present on all three ships. German aircraft arrived later to jam British radar with chaff. By 13:00, the ships had cleared the Strait of Dover
Strait of Dover
The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel. The shortest distance across the strait is from the South Foreland, 6 kilometres northeast of Dover in the county of Kent, England, to Cap Gris Nez, a cape near to Calais in the French of...
, though half an hour later, a flight of six Swordfish torpedo bombers, with Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
escort, attacked the Germans. The British failed to penetrate the Luftwaffe fighter shield, and all six Swordfish were destroyed.
Off Dover, Prinz Eugen came under fire from British coastal artillery batteries, though they scored no hits. Several Motor Torpedo Boat
Motor Torpedo Boat
Motor Torpedo Boat was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, and the Royal Canadian Navy.The capitalised term is generally used for the Royal Navy boats and abbreviated to "MTB"...
s then attacked the ship, but Prinz Eugens destroyer escorts drove the vessels off before they could launch their torpedoes. At 16:43, Prinz Eugen encountered five British destroyers: , , , , and . She fired her main battery at them and scored several hits on Worcester, but she was forced to maneuver erratically to avoid their torpedoes. Nevertheless, Prinz Eugen arrived in Brunsbüttel
Brunsbüttel
Brunsbüttel is a town in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany that lies on the mouth of the Elbe river, near the North Sea. It is the location of the western entrance to the Kiel Canal, the eastern entrance being located at Kiel-Holtenau...
on the morning of 13 February, completely undamaged.
Subsequent operations
On 21 February 1942, Prinz Eugen, the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer, and the destroyers Richard BeitzenGerman destroyer Z4 Richard Beitzen
The German destroyer Z4 Richard Beitzen was a Type 1934 destroyer in the German Kriegsmarine, named after Richard Beitzen who commanded the 14th Torpedo boat flotilla in World War I and was killed in action in March 1918....
, Paul Jakobi
German destroyer Z5 Paul Jakobi
Z5 Paul Jakobi was a built for the German Navy in the mid-1930s.-Design and description:Paul Jacobi had an overall length of and was long at the waterline. The ship had a beam of , and a maximum draft of . She displaced at standard and at deep load. The Wagner geared steam turbines were...
, Z25
German destroyer Z25
Z25 was a built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II.-External links:*...
, Hermann Schoemann
German destroyer Z7 Hermann Schoemann
Z7 Hermann Schoemann was a built for the German Navy in the mid-1930s.-Design and description:Hermann Schoemann had an overall length of and was long at the waterline. The ship had a beam of , and a maximum draft of . She displaced at standard and at deep load. The Wagner geared steam...
, and Friedrich Ihn
German destroyer Z14 Friedrich Ihn
Z14 Friedrich Ihn was a built for the German Navy in the mid-1930s. It was named after German naval officer Friedrich Ihn.-External links:*...
steamed to Norway. After stopping briefly in Grimstadfjord, the ships proceeded on to Trondheim. Two days later, while steaming off the Trondheimsfjord
Trondheimsfjord
The Trondheimsfjord , an inlet of the Norwegian Sea, is Norway's third longest fjord at long. It is located in the west central part of the country, and it stretches from Ørland in west to Steinkjer in north, passing the city of Trondheim on its way...
, the British submarine torpedoed Prinz Eugen. The torpedo struck the ship in the stern, causing serious damage and rendering the ship unmaneuverable. She was towed to Lofjord, where, over the span of the next few months, emergency repairs were effected. Her entire stern was cut away and plated over and two jury-rigged rudders, operated manually via capstans
Capstan (nautical)
A capstan is a vertical-axled rotating machine developed for use on sailing ships to apply force to ropes, cables, and hawsers. The principle is similar to that of the windlass, which has a horizontal axle.- History :...
, were installed.
On 16 May, Prinz Eugen made the return voyage to Germany under her own power. While en route to Kiel, the ship was attacked by a British force of 19 bombers and 27 torpedo bombers, though they failed to hit the ship. Prinz Eugen was out of service for repairs until October; she conducted sea trials beginning on 27 October. Over the next two months, the ship was occupied with lengthy trials in the Baltic. In early January 1943, the Kriegsmarine ordered the ship to return to Norway to reinforce the warships stationed there. Twice in January Prinz Eugen attempted to steam to Norway with Scharnhorst, but both attempts were broken off after British surveillance aircraft spotted the two ships. After it became apparent that it would be impossible to move the ship to Norway, Prinz Eugen was assigned to the Fleet Training Squadron. For nine months, she cruised the Baltic training new cadets.
As the Soviet Army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
pushed the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
back on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
, it became necessary to reactivate Prinz Eugen as a gunnery support vessel. Therefore, on 1 October 1943, the ship was reassigned to combat duty. In June 1944, Prinz Eugen, the heavy cruiser Lützow, and the 6th Destroyer Flotilla formed the Second Task Force, later renamed the Thiele Task Force. Prinz Eugen was at this time steaming in the eastern Baltic, northwest of the island of Utö
Utö, Finland
Utö is a small island in the Archipelago Sea in the Baltic sea and belongs to Väståboland municipality. It is the southernmost year-round inhabited island in Finland. On the island there's a lighthouse, pilot station, a small guest harbour, a shop and a post office. Due to the remoteness of the...
. On 19–20 August, the ship steamed into the Gulf of Riga
Gulf of Riga
The Gulf of Riga, or Bay of Riga, is a bay of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia. According to C.Michael Hogan, a saline stratification layer is found at a depth of approximately seventy metres....
and bombarded Tukums
Tukums
Tukums is a town in Latvia. Three regions of Latvia meet in the vicinity of Tukums – Vidzeme, Zemgale and Courland. The city was host to the Cold War facility Tukums air base.- History :...
. Four destroyers supported the action, along with Prinz Eugens Ar 196 floatplanes. Prinz Eugens bombardment was instrumental in the successful repulse of the Soviet attack.
In early September, Prinz Eugen supported a failed attempt to seize the fortress island of Hogland
Hogland
Gogland or Hogland is an island in the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, located some 180 km west of Saint Petersburg and 35 km away from the coast of Finland . The island is a part of the Leningrad Oblast, Russia. The area of Hogland Island is approximately...
. The ship then returned to Gotenhafen, before escorting a convoy of ships evacuating German soldiers from Finland. The convoy, consisting of six freighters, sailed on 15 September from the Gulf of Bothnia
Gulf of Bothnia
The Gulf of Bothnia is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It is situated between Finland's west coast and Sweden's east coast. In the south of the gulf lie the Åland Islands, between the Sea of Åland and the Archipelago Sea.-Name:...
, with the entire Second Task Force escorting it. Swedish aircraft and destroyers shadowed the convoy, but did not intervene. The following month, Prinz Eugen returned to gunfire support duties. On 11 and 12 October, the ship fired in support of German troops in Memel
Klaipeda
Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....
. Over the first two days, the ship fired some 700 rounds of ammunition from her main battery. She returned on the 14th and 15th, after having restocked her main battery ammunition, to fire another 370 rounds.
While on the return voyage to Gotenhafen on 15 October, Prinz Eugen inadvertently rammed the light cruiser Leipzig
German cruiser Leipzig
The German light cruiser Leipzig was the lead ship of her class . She was the fourth German warship to carry the name of the city of Leipzig.-History:...
amidships north of Hela
Hel, Poland
Hel is a town in Puck County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, located on the tip of the Hel Peninsula, some 33 kilometres from the Polish mainland.-Early developments:...
. The collision occurred due to heavy fog. The light cruiser was nearly cut in half, and the two ships remained wedged together for fourteen hours. Prinz Eugen was taken to Gotenhafen where repairs were effected in the span of a month. On 20–21 November, the ship supported German troops on the Sworbe Peninsula by firing around 500 rounds of main battery ammunition. She then returned to Gotenhafen to resupply and have her worn out gun barrels re-bored.
The ship was ready for action by mid-January 1945, when she was sent to bombard Soviet forces in Samland. The ship fired over 870 rounds of ammunition at Soviet forces in Cranz
Zelenogradsk
Zelenogradsk, is a town and the administrative center of Zelenogradsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, Located on the Sambian coastline near the Curonian Spit on the Baltic Sea...
advancing on Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
. At that point, Prinz Eugen had expended her main battery ammunition, but critical munition shortages forced the ship to remain in port until March, when she bombarded Soviet forces around Gotenhafen, Danzig, and Hela. The following month, on 8 April, Prinz Eugen and Lützow steamed to Swinemünde. On 13 April, 34 Lancaster bombers
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
attacked the two ships while in port. Thick cloud cover forced the British to abort the mission and return two days later. On the second attack, they succeeded in sinking Lützow with a single Tallboy bomb hit. Prinz Eugen then departed Swinemünde for Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, arriving on 20 April. Once there, she was decommissioned on 7 May and turned over to Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
control the following day.
Service with the US Navy
German cruiser Nürnberg
The Nürnberg, was a German light cruiser of the Leipzig class named after the city of Nuremberg. Some sources consider the Leipzig and Nürnberg to be of separate, single ship, classes...
were escorted by the British cruisers and to Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea.-History:...
. On 13 December, the ship was awarded as a war prize to the United States, which sent the ship to Wesermünde. The cruiser was commissioned into the U.S. Navy as the unclassified miscellaneous vessel
Unclassified miscellaneous vessel
The IX hull classification symbol is used for ships of the United States Navy that do not fit into one of the standard categories...
USS Prinz Eugen (IX-300). A composite American-German crew, under the command of Captain A. H. Graubart, then took the ship to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, departing on 13 January 1946 and arriving on 22 January. There, the ship was extensively examined by the US Navy. Her very large GHG passive sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
array was removed and installed on the submarine for testing. American interest in magnetic amplifier
Magnetic amplifier
The magnetic amplifier is an electromagnetic device for amplifying electrical signals. The magnetic amplifier was invented early in the 20th century, and was used as an alternative to vacuum tube amplifiers where robustness and high current capacity were required...
technology increased again after findings in investigations of the fire control system of Prinz Eugen.
The ship was then allocated to the fleet of target ships for Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. It was the first test of a nuclear weapon after the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945...
in Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....
. Prinz Eugen was towed to the Pacific via Philadelphia and the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
. The ship survived two atomic bomb blasts, Test Able, on 1 July 1946, and Test Baker on 25 July. Prinz Eugen was thoroughly contaminated with radioactive fallout, but suffered no structural damage from the explosions. The irradiated ship was towed to the Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific, where a small leak went unrepaired. On 29 August 1946, the US Navy decommissioned Prinz Eugen.
By late December 1946, the ship was in very bad condition; on the 21st, the ship began to list severely. A salvage team could not be brought to Kwajalein in time, so the US Navy attempted to beach the ship to prevent her from sinking, but on 22 December, Prinz Eugen capsized and sank. Her main battery gun turrets fell out of their barbette
Barbette
A barbette is a protective circular armour feature around a cannon or heavy artillery gun. The name comes from the French phrase en barbette referring to the practice of firing a field gun over a parapet rather than through an opening . The former gives better angles of fire but less protection...
s when the ship rolled over. The ship's stern, including her propeller assemblies, remain visible above the surface of the water. The US Government denied salvage rights, on the grounds that it did not want the irradiated steel entering the market. In August 1979, one of the ship's screws was retrieved and placed in the Laboe Naval Memorial
Laboe Naval Memorial
The Laboe Naval Memorial is a memorial located in Laboe, near Kiel, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Started in 1927 and completed in 1936, the monument originally memorialized the World War I war dead of the Kaiserliche Marine, with the Kriegsmarine dead of World War II being added after 1945...
in Germany.