The German cruiser Prinz Eugen (pron. 'Oy-geen') was an enlarged Admiral Hipper class heavy cruiser which served with the Kriegsmarine of Germany during World War II.

She was named after Prince Eugene of Savoy (Prinz Eugen in German).

Prinz Eugen was a Hipper class heavy cruiser: like her sister ships, Admiral Hipper and Blücher, she was built in the mid-1930s. Her keel was laid at the Krupp Germania shipyard in Kiel on April 23, 1936, and she was launched on August 22, 1938, and commissioned on August 1, 1940. Considered a "lucky ship", she survived to the end of the war although she participated in only one major action at sea.

She was awarded to the United States and commissioned into the US Navy as the unclassified miscellaneous vessel USS Prinz Eugen (IX-300). After examination and tests she was allocated to the target fleet for the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb tests. She survived the Able and Baker tests (July 1946) but was too radioactive to have leaks repaired. In September 1946 she was towed to Kwajalein Atoll and capsized on 22 December 1946 over Enubuj reef where she remains to this day. In 1979 her port propeller was salvaged and is preserved at the German Naval Memorial at Kiel.

[Source: Wikipedia]

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