Prinz Eugen

Heavy Cruiser

Service Data

In Service: 1 August 1940 to 1946

Production Data

Ordered:
Builder: F. Krupp Germaniawerft AG, Kiel
Construction No: 564
Laid down: 23 April 1936
Launched: 22 August 1938
Commissioned: 1 August 1940

Technical Data

Type: Admiral Hipper
Class: Heavy cruiser

Displacement: 14,680 tons standard.18,750 tons full load
Length: 207.7 m
Beam: 21.7 m
Draft: 7.2 m
Propulsion: 3 × shaft 3 × geared turbines Germania producing up to 137,500 shp
Propellers: 3
Speed: 32.2 knots
Range: 6,800 nautical miles at 20 knots
Crew: 1,600 men and officers
Armament:
8 × 20.3 cm L/60 SK C/34
12 × 10.5 cm L/65 SK C/33
carried 4,800 rounds
12 × 3.7 cm L/83 SK C/30
carried 4,000 rounds
18 × 2 cm MG L/65 C/30
carried 16,000 rounds
24 × 4 cm L/56 Flak 28 after 1945
carried 30,000 rounds
12 × 5.33 cm torpedoe tubes
Armour Belt 80 mm, Deck 30 mm, Turrets 160 to 70 mm, Tower 15 cm
Aircraft: 3 × Arado Ar 196 seaplanes
Electronics:
Operators: Kriegsmarine
Variants:
Prinz Eugen
Admiral Hipper
Blücher
Seydlitz
Lützow

Other: Heavy cruisers
Articles:

History

The Prinz Eugen was an expanded Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser which served with the Kriegsmarine of Germany during World War II. She was called after Prince Eugene of Savoy (Prinz Eugen in German). Prinz Eugen was the third of the Hipper-class heavy cruisers. Similar to her sister ships, Admiral Hipper and Blücher, she was constructed in the mid-1930s.

Career

2 July 1940
The Prinz Eugen is attacked by RAF planes, whilst docked at Kiel and sustains two direct hits.

1 August 1940
The Prinz Eugen is commissioned.

17 May 1941
The Prinz Eugen is attacked by coastal command aircraft however no damage was sustained during this attack.

19 May 1941
Operation Rhein�bung (Rhine Exercise) The Prinz Eugen left the port of Gotenhafen and was accompanied by Bismarck and escorted by the destroyers Z23, Z24, Friedrich Eckoldt, Hans Lody. for commerce raiding in the North Atlantic.

21 May 1941
The Prinz Eugen and the Bismarck are spotted by a British reconnaissance plane while at Bergen, Both ships leave Bergen before British bombers can attack them.

24 May 1941
At 6 am, the British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Hood open fire on the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. After exchanging fire, the HMS Hood magazines explodes and splits the ship in two. HMS Prince of Wales is hit several times, The Bismarck and Prinz Eugen head for Brest, France.

29 May 1941
The Prinz Eugen returns to Brest because of engine problems.

2 July 1941 The Prinz Eugen was hit by a RAF bomb while under repairs in Brest.

11 to 13 February 1942
The Prinz Eugen takes part in operation Cerberus (Channel Dash) along with Gneisenau and Scharnhorst escorted by 6 destroyers Friedrich Ihn, Hermann Schoemann, Paul Jakobi, Richard Beitzen, Z25, Z29 plus 14 torpedo boats. The Gneisenau is hit by a mine on her way to Kiel.

23 February 1942
The Prinz Eugen was torpedoed by British submarine HMS Trident destroying her stern, outside the Drontheim Fjord while on transfer to Norway.

16 May 1942
The Prinz Eugen sailed from Trondheim in an attempt to reach her home port in Germany for further repairs. Coastal Command organised a strike for the following evening involving 12 No 42 Squadron Beauforts, inluding the Mk IIA seen here with its crew preparing for the operation.
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17 May 1942
The Prinz Eugen is attacked by coastal command aircraft however no damage was sustained during this attack.

17 May to October 1942
The Prinz Eugen is repaired in Kiel.

15 October 1944
The Prinz Eugen collides with the light cruiser Leipzig north of Hela, only minor damage.

1945
The Prinz Eugen supported the German Army by shelling Soviet land forces.

29 March 1945
The Prinz Eugen evacuates German refugees from the advancing Soviet forces.

8 April 1945
The Prinz Eugen sails to Copenhagen.

20 April 1945 The Prinz Eugen arrives Copenhagen.

8 May 1945
The Prinz Eugen surrendered to British Navy forces in Copenhagen.

26 May 1945
The Prinz Eugen left Copenhagen with the Nürnberg, and sailed to Wilhelmshaven.

5 January 1946
The Prinz Eugen was handed over to the United States Navy to be used for atomic bomb tests.

22 December 1946
The Prinz Eugen capsized and sunk.

Commanders

Gallery

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Sources

German Warships, 1815-1945: Major Surface Vessels.
ISBN-10: 0851775330

German Warships, 1815-1945: U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels.
ISBN-10: 155750301X

German warships of the Second World War.
ISBN-10: 0668040378

For a complete list of sources