German cruiser Prinz Eugen Prinz Eugen ( ) was an " Admiral Hipper " - class heavy cruiser , the third member of the class of five vessels . She served with the German Navy ( 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 into 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 at 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 approximately two miles north - west of Bucholz Army Airfield , on the edge of Enubuj . One of her screws was salvaged and is on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial in Germany . Construction . " Prinz Eugen " was ordered by the Kriegsmarine from the Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel . Her keel was laid on 23 April 1936 , under construction number 564 and cover name " Kreuzer J " . 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 long overall and had a beam of and a maximum draft of . The ship had a design displacement of and a full load displacement of . " Prinz Eugen " was powered by three sets of geared steam turbines , which were supplied with steam by twelve ultra - high pressure oil - fired boilers . The ship ' s top speed was , at . As designed , her standard complement consisted of 42 officers and 1 , 340 enlisted men . " Prinz Eugen " s primary armament was eight SK L / 60 guns mounted in four twin gun turret s , placed in superfiring pairs forward and aft . Her anti - aircraft battery was to have consisted of twelve L / 65 guns , twelve guns , and eight guns . The ship also would have carried a pair of triple torpedo launchers abreast of the rear superstructure . The ship was to have been equipped with three Arado Ar 196 seaplanes and one catapult . " Prinz Eugen " s armored belt was thick ; her upper deck was thick while the main armored deck was thick . The main battery turrets had thick faces and 70 mm thick sides . Service history . 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 " Bismarck " s 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 . Operation " Rheinübung " . By 11 May , repairs to " Prinz Eugen " were completed . The ship , under the command of " Kapitän zur See " Helmuth Brinkmann , 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 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 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 ; mist reduced visibility to . The Germans encountered some ice at around 10 : 00 , which necessitated a reduction in speed to . 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 . " Prinz Eugen " s 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 " Bismarck " s 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 , 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 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 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 to the east . At 06 : 00 , " Hood " was completing the second turn to port when " Bismarck " s 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 " Hood " s rear ammunition magazine and detonated 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 , " Bismarck " s 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 [ " Bismarck " s ] 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 . Operation Cerberus . " Prinz Eugen " and the battleships " Scharnhorst " and " Gneisenau " were continually threatened by Allied air attacks while stationed in Brest , so Adolf Hitler ordered their return to Germany in early 1942 . 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 , 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 Eugen " s 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 . Subsequent operations . On 21 February 1942 , " Prinz Eugen " , the heavy cruiser " Admiral Scheer " , and the destroyers " Richard Beitzen " , " 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 patrolling 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 Eugen " s Ar 196 floatplanes . " Prinz Eugen " s 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 . Service with the US Navy . 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 . Notes . Notes Citations