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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive


Contributed by Wolfgang Hechler

Prinz Eugen (IX-300)


German Cruiser (War Prize):
  • Laid down in 1936 at Krupp Germania Werft Yards, Kiel, Germany
  • Launched, 20 August 1938
  • Commissioned into the German Navy, 1 August 1940
  • Surrendered to British Forces at Copenhagen, Denmark, 7 May 1945
  • Acquired by US Navy, 13 January 1946
  • Placed in service as Prinz Eugen (IX-300) in January 1946
  • Used as a target for an atomic test at Bikini Atoll, 25 July 1946
  • Final Disposition, after being towed to Kwajalein began to list and capsized and sunk at Enubuj Island, Kwajalein Atoll, 22 December 1946.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 19,250 t.(fl)
    Length 655'
    Beam 71'
    Draft 15
    Speed 32 kts.
    Complement (war-time) 830
    Armament
    eight 8" guns
    twelve 4.1" guns
    twelve 37mm guns
    twelve 21 " torpedo tubes
    Aircraft four aircraft, one catapult
    Propulsion steam turbines
    Click On Image
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    Size Image Description Source
    KMS Prinz Eugen
    Prinz Eugen 54k
    Namesake
    Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano - (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) better known as Prince Eugene, was a field marshal in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th and 18th centuries. He was one of the most successful military commanders of his time, and rose to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna. (Wikipedia)
    Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen 328k Post card image of the launching of KMS Prinz Eugen 20 August 1938, at Krupp's Germania Werft Yard, Kiel, Germany Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen 104k KMS Prinz Eugen after launching at Krupp's Germania Werft Yard, Kiel, Germany, 20 August 1938. Note the conventionally stowed anchors and her coat of arms painted on her straight bow.
    Imperial War Museum photo from "German Cruisers of World War Two", by M. J. Whitley.
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen 86k KMS Prinz Eugen at Krupp's Germania Werft Yard, Kiel, Germany, shortly before her completion.
    Photo by W. B. Bilddienst from "German Cruisers of World War Two", by M. J. Whitley.
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen 167k The German battleship KMS Bismarck at sea en route to Norway, circa 19-20 May 1941, prior to her Atlantic sortie. Photographed from the heavy cruiser KMS Prinz Eugen.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 69721. Copied from the report of officers of Prinz Eugen, with identification by her Gunnery Officer, Paul S. Schmalenbach, 1970.
    Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen 35k KMS Prinz Eugen in 1941, prior to Operation "Rheinubung" (KMS Bismarck's Atlantic Sortie). The spherical shields have not yet been fitted to the forward directors.
    Photo by Druppel from "German Cruisers of World War Two", by M. J. Whitley.
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen 196k KMS Prinz Eugen in 1941, prior to Operation "Rheinubung". Note separate elevation to the 20.3 cm (8") SKC/34 guns, the left gun of 'Anton' turret is at maximum elevation, the right at maximum depression. In the background is Cap Arkona and astern of her is either Deutschland or Hansa, employed as accommodation ships.
    Photo Groner from "German Cruisers of World War Two", by M. J. Whitley.
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen 61k KMS Prinz Eugen in 1941, arrives in Brest, France after "Rheinubung". Note the paint eroded by the action of the bow wave.
    Photo Bundesarchiv-Koblenz from "German Cruisers of World War Two", by M. J. Whitley.
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen 97k An undated RAF photo recon image of KMS Prinz Eugen, with the repair ship KMS Huascaran alongside, undergoing temporary repairs to her stern in Lofjord, Near Trondheim, Norway, after escaping from Brest, France, and being torpedoed by HMS Trident (N-52) on 21 February 1942.
    Photos and text from "Looking Down on War: Axis Warships As Seen on Photos From Allied Intelligence Files" by Colonel Roy M. Stanley 11, USAF (Retd). Pen and Sword Maritime, Pen and Sword Books Ltd., 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. ISBN 978 184884 471 1
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen 251k KMS Bismarck followed by KMS Prinz Eugen steam out of Lofjord Norway, May 1942. Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen 141k Overhead view of KMS Prinz Eugen underway on a north-north-easterly course off the southwest coast of Norway. The photograph was taken on 17 May 1942. RAF photo-interpreters noted the squared-off stern, about 30 feet having been cut away after torpedo damage from the submarine HMS Trident (N-52) on 23 February 1942. An Arado 196 aircraft is visible amidships on the catapult.
    Photo Ref: AIR 34/744 from "German Cruisers of World War Two", by M. J. Whitley.
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen 49k AN RAF pilot makes his report to the intelligence officer on his return from attacking KMS Prinz Eugen. He found Prinz Eugen hugging the shore and protected by a screen of destroyers on the evening of 17 May 1942. The cruiser was steaming southwards along the Norwegian coast. She was attacked by torpedo and bomb carrying aircraft of Coastal Command RAF, operating more than 300 miles from their base. Prinz Eugen had been undergoing repairs in the Lofjord, near Trondheim, Norway after her escape from Brest in company with KMS Gneisenau and KMS Scharnhorst.
    Photo from Imperial War Museum.
    Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen 146k A RAF photo recon image of KMS Prinz Eugen moored ahead of the light cruiser KMS Emden (at right) at Gotenhafen (Gdynia) on 10 October 1943. The Swastika herald prominent on bow deck became a PI recognition key for Prinz Eugen for most of the war.
    Photos and text from "Looking Down on War: Axis Warships As Seen on Photos From Allied Intelligence Files" by Colonel Roy M. Stanley 11, USAF (Retd). Pen and Sword Maritime, Pen and Sword Books Ltd., 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. ISBN 978 184884 471 1
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen 106k An overhead RAF photo recon image of KMS Prinz Eugen tied up at the Germania yard, Kiel after having had a new stern fitted.
    Photos and text from "Looking Down on War: Axis Warships As Seen on Photos From Allied Intelligence Files" by Colonel Roy M. Stanley 11, USAF (Retd). Pen and Sword Maritime, Pen and Sword Books Ltd., 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. ISBN 978 184884 471 1
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen 46k KMS Prinz Eugen lying off Kiel, Germany in October 1942. A faint trace of a residual 'wave'-type camouflage pattern is just visible on the original print. Vierlings are fitted on 'B and 'C' turrets.
    Photo Groner from "German Cruisers of World War Two", by M. J. Whitley.
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen 51k KMS Prinz Eugen at anchor, circa 1943 or 1944, location unknown. Note the faded camouflage paint.
    Photo Groner from "German Cruisers of World War Two", by M. J. Whitley.
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen 97k An overhead RAF photo recon image of KMS Prinz Eugen underway in the Baltic sea off Gotenhafen (today Gdynia), 24 March 1945, four days before his last refugee trip.. Note the Kriegsmarine regarded their ships as being masculine rather than being feminine
    Photos and text from "Looking Down on War: Axis Warships As Seen on Photos From Allied Intelligence Files" by Colonel Roy M. Stanley 11, USAF (Retd). Pen and Sword Maritime, Pen and Sword Books Ltd., 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. ISBN 978 184884 471 1
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen
    094630042
    177k KMS Prinz Eugen at anchor, date and location unknown.
    Photo from "Naval Air War 1939-1945" by Nathan Miller
    Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen 276k Photo of ship model of KMS Prinz Eugen by Trumpeter, dated 1945. Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen 12k KMS Prinz Eugen prior to acquisition by the US Navy.
    US Navy photo from DANFS
    Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Prinz Eugen 191k
    A US Navy photo from "Looking Down on War: Axis Warships As Seen on Photos From Allied Intelligence Files" by Colonel Roy M. Stanley 11, USAF (Retd). Pen and Sword Maritime, Pen and Sword Books Ltd., 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. ISBN 978 184884 471 1
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen 118k Danish soldiers stand guard over the German cruiser KMS Prinz Eugen after German naval forces surrender in Copenhagen harbor, 13 May 1945. Before the surrender the ship had been shelling the city Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen
    NS 094630031
    78k THE SURRENDER OF THE GERMAN CRUISERS PRINZ EUGEN AND NURNBERG TO HMS's DIDO AND BIRMINGHAM AT COPENHAGEN IN MAY 1945
    In May 1945, as the war drew to a close, a force consisting of the cruisers HMS Dido, HMS Birmingham and several destroyers was tasked with occupying ports in the Baltic. The force passed through the German mine fields off the Skagerrak, reaching Copenhagen on 9 May. They took control of the German cruisers KMS Prinz Eugen and KMS Nurnberg following their surrender. The Captains of Prinz Eugen and Nurnberg formally surrendered to Captain Elkins of HMS Dido, 12 May 1945. The following day Birmingham was relieved by HMS Devonshire and returned to the UK.
    NS 094630031 - Officers from the German cruisers board HMS Dido to receive de-ammunitioning orders
    NS 094630032 - Surrender of German cruisers to Captain Elkins of HMS Dido
    NS 094630033 - KMS Prinz Eugen alongside at Copenhagen for the surrender
    Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen
    NS 094630032
    35k
    Prinz Eugen
    NS 094630033
    35k
    Prinz Eugen (IX-300)
    Prinz Eugen 99k Prinz Eugen (IX-300) arriving at Boston, 26 January 1946 Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen 36k Prinz Eugen (IX-300) arriving at Boston, 26 January 1946 Joseph M. Lobo, CM2/c, USCG, and Jordynne Olivia Lobo, AG3, USNR
    Prinz Eugen 36k Prinz Eugen (IX-300) arriving at Boston, 26 January 1946 Joseph M. Lobo, CM2/c, USCG, and Jordynne Olivia Lobo, AG3, USNR
    Prinz Eugen 76k Prinz Eugen (IX-300) moored at Boston Naval Shipyard, early 1946. Note USS LSM-486 nested with several additional LSMs in the background at a nearby pier. George M. French
    Prinz Eugen 29k USS Prinz Eugen (IX-300) fires her forward 8" guns to port during her run from Boston to Philadelphia. Navy Bureau of Ship's observers put the cruiser's abilities to test. Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen
    094630040
    117k Prinz Eugen (IX-300) off the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, PA., circa February 1946. Prinz Eugen had a crew of 8 officers and 85 enlisted men of the U.S. Navy supervising 27 officers and 547 enlisted men of the former German Kriegsmarine for tests.
    U.S. Navy "All Hands" magazine March 1946
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen
    094630043
    247k Newspaper caption -"CREW MEMBER OF TH NAZI CRUISER >Prinz Eugen are shown as they filed down the gangplank of the ship at the naval base in Philadelphia, Pa. In a surprising display of affection for crew members of the German Navy some 5,600 German-Americans paid homage to the 547-man crew of the cruiser and showered them with gifts. The ship will be used as a "guinea pig" in the atomic bomb test at Bikini Atoll."
    The Wilmington Morning Star, Thursday February 28, 1946, page 15
    Michael Mohl
    Prinz Eugen 55k US Navy CAPT. A.H. Graubart and CAPT. Hans Jürgen Reinicke walk on deck of the former German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, officially Prinz Eugen (IX-300), off the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, PA. Prinz Eugen had a crew of 8 officers and 85 enlisted men of the U.S. Navy supervising 27 officers and 547 enlisted men of the former German Kriegsmarine for tests. Reinicke was the commander of the German crew.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, March 1946
    Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen
    BUSHIPS 114284
    597k Fore and aft views of Prinz Eugen (IX-300) moored at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, February 1946. Her two guns from turret number one were removed while at Philadelphia.
    US Navy Bureau of Ships photo #114284 and #114285.
    David Buell
    Prinz Eugen
    BUSHIPS 114285
    585k
    Prinz Eugen 617k Aerial port bow view of Prinz Eugen (IX-300) sailing from Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, 10 March 1946.
    Naval Shipyard Philadelphia photo # 377-46-19
    Ingo Bauernfeind via Robert M. Cieri
    Prinz Eugen 84k Prinz Eugen (IX-300) underway bound for the Pacific and the atomic bomb trials. Points to note are the removal of the 20.3cm guns from "A" turret, the starboard flak director, as is most of the light flak guns and directors. Gone too is the main range-finder on the conning tower where special test equipment has been installed.
    US Navy photo from "German Cruisers of World War Two", by M J Whitley.
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen
    094630041
    139k Prinz Eugen (IX-300) passing through the Gatun locks, Panama Canal, 15 March 1946. Note the guns of A turret are missing.
    Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Naval Photographic Center. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives Identifier: 520587
    Robert Hurst
    Prinz Eugen
    80-G-627446
    291k Prinz Eugen (IX-300) at anchor, 14 June 1946, awaiting atomic bomb trials. On the main range-finder at the top of the superstructure can be seen the massive mattress aerial of the Fu MO26 radar. At the foretop is the small Fu Mo81 Berlin-S aerial. On the mainmast platform is the Fu Mo25 aerial and on the front port side of the flak control platform can be seen the one of the Sumatra radar-detection dipoles.
    US National Archives photos # 80-G-627446 and 80-G-627445 US Navy photos now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Robert Hurst and David Wright
    Prinz Eugen 402k
    Prinz Eugen 147k Overhead view of the Prinz Eugen (IX-300) wreck at Ennylabegan Island, Kwajalein Atoll, 12 October 1980.
    Courtesy World War II in Pictures (Blog)
    Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen 124k The wreck of Prinz Eugen (IX-300) at Enubuj Island, Kwajalein Atoll sits upside down, with her rudder and two remaining propellers partially out of the water. The third propeller is currently displayed in Germany.
    Courtesy Sub2obyDiveAdvisor.com.
    Tommy Trampp
    Prinz Eugen 153k Prinz Eugen propeller and bell. In August 1979, one of the ship's propellers was retrieved and placed in the Laboe Naval Memorial in Germany. The ship's bell is currently held at the National Museum of the United States Navy on display at the Cold War Gallery, Washington Navy Yard. Prinz Eugen was part of the atomic testing of Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll in 1946. The bell had been removed prior to the atomic testing. Tommy Trampp
    Salvor
    09375236
    103k Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, 4 September 2018. USNS Salvor (T-AR5 52) and products tanker Humber sit moored over the capsized WW II German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen during an oil recovery project. The U.S. Army. in partnership with the U,5. Navy and the Republic of the Marshall islands are conducting the recovery effort to ensure mission capability of the U.5. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein while protecting the sensitive ecosystem within the atoll. The Prinz Eugen was transferred to the U.S. Navy as a war prize from the British Royal Navy after WWII and in 1946 she was loaded with oil and cargo and used to test survivability of warships during the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. The operation is being performed by Naval Sea Systems Command. Office of the Supervisor of Salvage engineers and is expected to last until the end of October.
    U.S. Navy photo by Leigh Ann Ferrari
    John Spivey

    Prinz Eugen (IX-300)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officer
    01CAPT. Graubart, Arthur Harrison (Speed), USN (USNA 1925)5 January 1946 - May 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler

    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

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