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Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen, Spring
1941
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History
Named after Prinz Eugen von
Savoyen-Carignan (1663-1736) who was victorious in various battles
against Turkey, France and Spain.
The heavy cruisers of the Kriegsmarine were a
result of the Washington Fleet Treaty of 1921, so called
"Washington Cruisers". Their displacement was not to
exceed 10.000 tons and their main artillery was limited to 8"
(20,3 cm) guns, but in reality they were up to 60% bigger than
allowed.
Between 1935 and 1937 the keels of five of this
ships were laid down which belonged to two slightly different
classes of ships: The Admiral Hipper and her sister Ship Blücher
, the improved second batch consisting of the Prinz Eugen ,
Seydlitz and Lützow . The last two were
originally planned to be big CLs with an armament of twelve 15 cm
guns, but due to the lack of guns and turrets and the threat of a
new class of Soviet cruisers, the ships were built as additional
ships of the Prinz Eugen design. Those ships were designed
with the idea of commerce war in mind, they should attack allied
merchant shipping and evade allied warships, but it soon got obvious
that they were not ideal for this task. With their high-pressure
steam engine their fuel consumption was too high and their
operational range was not big enough to be used in the North
Atlantic. In addition, the complicated engine construction often
broke down. Of the five ships, only three got completed at all.
Prinz Eugen , often called the
"lucky ship" was the only major german warship that
survived the war and was sunk after atomic bomb test in the
Kwajalein Atoll. Some parts of the ship's equipment is still
existing today: One of its float planes, the T3 + BH, is now in the
Silverhill Storage Facility of the Smithsonian. The ship bell is now
in the US Naval Museum at Washington, the guns of turret Anton
(which were removed before the atomic bomb tests) are still at
weapons Testing Facility in Dahgren, Virginia. One of the props was
salvaged from the wreck and is now on display at the Marineehrenmal
in Laboe, Germany.
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| Construction
Data |
Dimensions |
Commanders |
| Laid
down: |
Germaniawerft
Kiel, 23.04.1936 |
| Launched: |
22.08.1938 |
| Commissioned: |
01.08.1940 |
| Fate: |
sunk
summer 1946 (Kwajalein-Atoll) |
| Costs: |
104,5
Mio Reichsmark |
|
| Size
(Max): |
18400
t |
| Length
(Total): |
212,5
m |
| Length
(Waterline): |
|
| Beam: |
21,8
m |
| Draft: |
7,2
m |
| Crew: |
~1600 |
|
| KptzS
Hellmuth Brinkmann: |
01.08.1940
- 31.07.1942 |
| FKpt
Neubauer: |
25.06.1942
- 30.06.1942 |
| KKpt
Beck: |
01.07.1942
- 08.10.1942 |
| KptzS
Hans-Erich Voß: |
09.10.1942
- 28.02.1943 |
| KptzS
Werner Ehrhardt: |
29.02.1943
- 05.01.1944 |
| KptzS
Hans-Jürgen Reinicke: |
06.01.1944
- 07.05.1945 |
| Capt.
A.H. Graubart (USN): |
1945
- 1946 |
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|
Weapons |
Armour and
Aircraft |
Engines
& Performance |
| 20,3cm
SK (8"): |
8 |
| 10,5
cm L/65 C/33: |
12 |
| 4
cm Flak: |
17 |
| 3,7
cm L/83: |
|
| 2
cm MG L/64: |
28 |
| 53,3
cm Torpedoes: |
12 |
|
| Deck: |
12-50
mm |
| Belt: |
70-80
mm |
| Command
Tower: |
50
- 150 mm |
| Turrets: |
70
- 105 mm |
|
| Shafts: |
3 |
| Turbines: |
3 |
| Type: |
Germania |
| Total
Performance: |
136000
shp |
| Speed: |
33,5
kn |
| Range: |
7200
miles at 20 kn |
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Operational
History
| July
1940: |
Before
commissioned, the Prinz Eugen was twice hit by
British bombs in the Germaniawerft, Kiel |
| 01.08.1940: |
Commissioned |
| -
December 1940 |
Trials
and training in the Baltic Sea, battle drills. |
| December
1940: |
Final
construction work in Kiel. |
| January
- April 1941 |
Training
in the Baltic Sea. |
| 18.05.1941 |
Operation
"Rheinübung":
Leaves Gotenhafen together with battleship Bismarck . |
| 21.05.1941 |
Anchoring
in the Kors Fjord, Prinz Eugen and Bismarck
are spotted by British air reconnaissance. |
| 24.05.1941 |
Battle
with British battlecruiser Hood and battleship Prince
of Wales .
Prinz Eugen scores the first hit on the Hood
which later explodes in the battle. After the Battle, in which
the Prince of Wales is damaged too, the Prinz
Eugen is sent off in the North Atlantic while the Bismarck
tried to escape to France. |
| 29.05.1941 |
Returns
to Brest because of engine problems. |
| 02.07
1941 |
Hit
by a bomb in dock in Brest. |
| 11.02.1942 |
Operation
"Cerberus":
Returns to Germany via the British Channel together with
battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisneau ,
escorted by by 6 destroyers (Paul Jakobi , Richard
Beitzen , Friedrich Ihn , Hermann Schoemann
, Z25 , Z29 ) and 14 torpedo boats (e.g. Kondor
, Jaguar , T12 , T13 ) |
| 23.02.1942 |
Lost
stern after a torpedo hit from the British submarine Trident
outside the Drontheim Fjord while on transfer to Norway. |
| May
- October 1942 |
Repairs
in Kiel. |
| November
1942 |
Battle
training in Baltic Sea together with Panzerschiff Lützow
. |
| January
1943 |
Two
unsuccessful transfer attempts to Norway. |
| May
1943 |
Used
as a training ship. |
| July
1944 |
Stationed
at the Finnish coast. |
| October
1944 |
Shore
bombardment at the Kurland front line. |
| October
1944 |
Supported
retiring German Army at Memel. |
| 15.10.1944 |
Collides
with light cruiser Leipzig north of Hela, only light
damage at the Prinz Eugen . |
| 11.1944
- 04.1945 |
Continued
support of the German Army. |
| 08.04.1945 |
Prinz
Eugen sails to Copenhagen. |
| May
1945 |
Placed
under British command. |
| December
1945 |
Handed
over to the U.S., renamed as USS IX 300 . |
| 13.01.1946 |
Sails
to the United States. |
| 10.05.1946 |
Transferred
to Honolulu. |
| 01.07.1946 |
Used
in atomic bomb test "Able", only light damage. |
| 25.07.1946 |
Used
in atomic bomb test "Baker", ship took some damage
below the waterline. After the tests, the Prinz Eugen
is towed to the Kwajalein Atoll. |
| 22.12.1946 |
After
six days of increased list, the Prinz Eugen capsized
and sinks. |
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