Heavy Cruisers: Prinz Eugen

[ivorthediver]

Ah ..........the spoils of war then

[designeraccd]

Yes, we got x-PRINZ EUGEN, sovz got the x-NURNBERG plus others. Note her bridge. DFO

[designeraccd]

However, PE's unfinished sister (LUTZOW) was sold to the sovz and delivered in 1940-incomplete. She never was finished, but IIRC her 2-8" in A turret did help defend Leningrad. The hulk was still floating in Neva River mid 50s! DFO

[ivorthediver]

Yes, we got x-PRINZ EUGEN, sovz got the x-NURNBERG plus others. Note her bridge. DFO

Great photo's .....what about the bridge

[designeraccd]

The sovz reshaped and built it UP a deck on MAKAROV!! Or given their penchant for canvas, maybe that's all it was??

The photo with HESSEN was as they were leaving for the East, never to return. DFO

[timlewin]

Here is a picture from the Malins files of Prinz Eugen on the day of surrender, she was escorted back to Kiel. Full story on "Away Seaboat" the memoir of Captain Malins.
tim

[ivorthediver]

Thanks Tim , always welcome .......errr.... is this out of the biscuit tin to .....

Well done and many thanks for the addition here .

[designeraccd]

We shouldn't overlook the ill-fated second unit of this class! Like her WW1 namesake, the BLUCHER of WW2 was sunk, too. This one went down in a Norwegian fjord while pursuing Adolfs' dreams of world conquest. Her crew and the Werhmacht troops aboard paid a heavy price trying to slip up the fjord. She was torpedoed, at point blank range, and hammered with heavy shells, too. Three 11" shell hits caused explosions aboard that sealed her fate. Had she been run aground, the BLUCHER might have been salvaged and many lives could have been saved.

Instead explosions and flames cut her in two and she finally rolled over and sank. The sunken cruiser still lies in the deep water of the fjord, still full of oil and live ammo. That was as close as she got to Oslo, her intended target. DFO

[ivorthediver]

Thanks for those Dennis , what a cost to pay

I take it the shore battery took her out [ hence the 11" gun emplacement ]

[designeraccd]

She was hit by the guns, which shattered her amidships, and was hit by a torpedo battery that was about as ancient as the guns.....all at point blank range. She slowly rolled over and went down.

Note her straight stem in the fitting out photo versus finished, dockside view.......DFO