PRINZ EUGEN Kriegsmarine Heavy Cruiser WWII

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The Germania Belst Company from Kiel constructed the Prinz Eugen as the third and last Admiral Hipper Class Heavy Cruiser to be commissioned by the Kriegsmarine. Admiral Hipper Class Heavy Cruisers were characteristically larger than heavy cruisers from other countries, and the huge Prinz Eugen was elongated an additional 5 meters. With a displacement tonnage measuring at over 14,000tons this enormous German cruiser packed the firepower of four 20.3cm twin gun turrets for its main armament. In May of 1941 the Prinz Eugen participated in Operation Rheinubung to intercept trade ships in the Atlantic. On this mission she joined forces with the Battleship Bismarck to help sink the British Battle Cruiser Hood and inflict considerable damage on the British Battleship Prince of Wales. In February of 1942, the Prinz Eugen, together with the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau left their docks at Brest for Norway on an unexpected dash through the British Channel, in broad daylight. Known as Operation Cerberus, this was to be one of the riskiest, yet best prepared and best coordinated operations carried out by German forces in the Second World War. After arriving safely in German waters, Prinz Eugen was active in the strategic withdrawal from the Russian front, firing thousands of shells at encroaching Russian forces when she provided support for evacuation ships carrying German troops and civilians. One of the few German cruisers to survive World War II, the Prinz Eugen now rests in the warm waters of the Marshal Islands. After enduring two atomic bomb tests she lies capsized in the calm shallows of the Kwajelein Atoll.

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