Prinz Eugen Heavy Cruiser

VIOLATION OF AGREEMENT

Prinz Eugen was a product of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935, the rules of which Germany soon broke since the ship was upgunned while still under construction. Eight 203mm (8in) guns, paired in four turrets, replaced the proposed 150mm (5.9in) weapons. Laid down at Germaniawerft in Kiel in April 1936, she was launched on 22 August 1938 and commissioned on 1 August 1940. Prinz Eugen cost almost 105 million Reichsmarks; a 3600-ton destroyer cost about 13 million Reichsmarks. Fully loaded she displaced over 19,000 tons almost twice the original agreement tonnage limit and had a complement of 1600, but she was widely held to be structurally weak.

OVER-SOPHISTICATED?

Prinz Eugen was supposed to be able to outrun anything big enough to destroy her. She was powered by 3-shaft Germania geared turbines, each fed by four La Mont boilers, offering a total of 132,000shp for a top speed of 32.2 knots (60km/h). The complicated powerplant proved almost impossible to maintain, while its thirst for fuel reduced the ships range to under 7000 nautical miles (13,000km). She sortied to accompany the Bismarck into the North Atlantic in May 1941. She later developed engine trouble and fetched up in Brest. She returned to Germany with the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, being torpedoed and hit at the stern by HM Submarine Trident on the way.

TECHNICAL DATA

Type: Heavy cruiser
Machinery: 3-shaft Germama geared turbines del. 132,000shp
Dimensions (overall): Length 207.7m (679.lft); beam 21.5m (70.5ft)
Draught: 6.6m (21.7ft)