The defeat in World War I caused the Germans to lose most of their military strength, especially the naval losses, dozens of large warships did not survive, and the German navy became a pure "coastal defense navy". Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info But the military did not give up, but kept trying to rebuild the former glory of the German Navy. The light cruiser "Emden" opened the prelude to the reconstruction of the navy, after which Germany successively built a number of light cruisers and German-class pocket battleships. However, Commander-in-Chief Raeder was not satisfied with his current achievements, and having participated in the Battle of Jutland, he dreamed of reviving the German Navy's prestige during World War I. So, in the early 30s, despite the explicit prohibition of the Treaty of Versailles, the German Navy began to quietly consider the possibility of building heavy cruisers.

When Hitler came to power in 1933, he gave great support to Raeder's plan to expand the army. Encouraged by this, the Navy almost immediately began to prepare for the construction of large warships: in 1934, the Naval Staff signed a contract with Krupp for the manufacture of 380-mm and 203-mm naval guns and twin turrets. Of these, the 380-mm naval gun and turret were prepared for the Bismarck-class battleships in the design, while the 203-mm guns were to be installed on the Admiral-Hipper-class heavy cruisers in the design. The "Prince Eugen" is the third ship of the Admiral Hipper class.

On June 18, 1935, the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Treaty opened the door for the German Navy to build large ships. On 9 July, the German government announced a huge shipbuilding program: two battle cruisers (Scharnhorst-class), two heavy cruisers (Admiral Hipper-class), sixteen destroyers, and twenty-eight submarines. The first of these, the Admiral Hipper, had begun construction three days earlier (July 6) at the Blohm &Voss (B&V) shipyard in Hamburg (construction code H); On August 15 of that year, the second ship, the Blucher, was built at the Deutsche shipyard in Kiel (construction code G). On 23 April 1936, the additional ship No. 3 was put on the slipway (construction code J) at the Germania shipyard in Kiel.

The heavy cruisers of this class are named after famous generals in German history (especially famous admirals), and the naming of the third ship naturally follows this principle. In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria, and in order to emphasize the historical ties between Germany and Austria and whitewash its aggression, the Nazi government decided to choose an Austrian general to name the heavy cruiser that would be launched that year. Naval historians recall the close ties between the Austrian and Prussian navies in the 19th century: at that time, Austria and Prussia were the only two principalities in the German states with a navy. In the Prussian-Danish War of 1864, the two navies formed a combined fleet, fought together under the command of Commodore Tegethoff of Austria, and defeated the Danish Navy at the Battle of Helgoland on 9 May of that year, with Admiral Wilhelm von Tergethoff naturally the first choice to name the ship. However, considering that naming a German warship after Tergethof, who was also the commander of the Battle of Lissa, might hurt the feelings of Italy, an Axis ally, this idea was abandoned, and the Nazi government chose Prince Eugen, also from Austria, to name the heavy cruiser.

On August 22, 1938, the heavy cruiser J was launched in Kiel and officially named "Prinz Eugen". Magda von Horty, a former Austro-Hungarian admiral and wife of the Hungarian regent Holtie, attended the launching and naming ceremony and smashed the bottle for the heavy cruiser.

The "Prince Eugen" began its legendary experience from the shipyard: in August 1939, the Soviet Union sought German naval help and offered to buy three German Admiral-class heavy cruisers under construction: "Prince Eugen", "Seydlitz" and "Lützov", and "Prince Eugen" faced its first test. But Hitler, who had been preparing to attack the Soviet Union from the very beginning, would certainly not allow the strengthening of the Soviet Red Navy, so the least complete of the three warships, the "Lützov", was agreed to be sold to the Soviet Union. "Prince Eugen" was also able to avoid becoming a heavy cruiser of the Soviet Red Navy "Petropavlovsk", but it also continued its unfortunate but fortunate life.

On May 7, 1945, the "Prince Eugen" surrendered to the British along with other German ships in Copenhagen. The next day, Germany formally surrendered, and the British took over the German warships on the same day. For the next 20 days, the German sailors enjoyed the tranquility of the end of the war, with little to do except routine maintenance and vigilance, so someone came up with a good way to pass the time: learn to drive a car. The crew first persuaded the British guards, and then found a truck on the dock and set up this makeshift "driving course", and as for fuel, there were quite a few of them in the docks. After a few days of practice, the exam began, and the subject was to drive around a dock warehouse, and even if you passed, the ending was naturally happy, and almost everyone who learned to drive got a driver's license.

On 27 May, the "Prince Eugen" received the order to depart, and together with the "Nuremberg", it moved to Wilhelmshaven under the escort of the British air defense cruiser "Dido" and the heavy cruiser "Devonshire". At the time of its parting, the Dido sent a light signal to the Prinz Eugen: May we have the best of luck when we meet next time. But the two warships will never have a chance to "meet next time".

Half a year later, according to the victorious lottery's division of captured Axis ships, the "Prince Eugen" became the property of the U.S. Navy and sailed to Withermond on December 13. After the U.S. Navy took over, it was conventionally classified as an "unnamed auxiliary ship" (series IX number), renumbered it as IX-300, and officially named the ship USS Prinz Eugen (USS "Prince Eugen" of the U.S. Navy). Upon hearing this, the German crew was relieved, they had feared that the warship would be taken over by the Soviet Red Navy and thrown into a prisoner of war camp, but now at least they were spared imprisonment.

U.S. Navy Captain Arthur Harrison Graubart became the last captain of the USS Prinz Eugen, and when he took office, he brought many "American" things to the IX-300: there were many more American sailors, daily supplies became extremely abundant, many coffee vending machines were installed on the ship, and there was a disgraceful change - a special "special cabin for colored people". The Americans then ordered the ship to be refurbished, keeping all the weapons, and recovering some of the crew members who had left after the German surrender, which made the German sailors think about it: some guessed that the United States was going to add it to their own fleet, some guessed that it was going to be sold to other countries, and some guessed that a rich man had taken a fancy to the warship.

On January 13, 1946, the U.S. Navy's "Prince Eugen" set sail from Withermond under the control of a mixed German-American crew, and the crew, who were a little tired of the long harbor life, were enthusiastic about it, and arrived at its destination, Boston Harbor, USA, nine days later (during which the "special cabin for colored people" did not come in handy). Mechanical breakdowns were frequent on the way, and the German crew took the opportunity to familiarize the American crew with the battleship, and at the same time they became familiar with each other. After that, some of the German crew members completed their mission and left for home, while others stayed behind to assist in the next mission.

The German crews in the United States had a fairly happy time, they met ordinary Americans for the first time, and ordinary Americans saw German servicemen for the first time. Both Americans and Germans have a keen interest in each other, and both are eager to know each other's real living conditions and experiences over the years. There is a small episode when the "Prince Eugen" first arrived in Boston, an American said to a German sailor: "You look like us, and you do the same thing." This sentence took the German lad by surprise: "What? Do Americans think that the Germans have a knife in their mouths? During their stay in Boston, the German captain and several crew members were invited by the local radio station to do a live broadcast to the United States, in which they introduced the Prinz Eugen to combat and daily life in Germany before the war. It was still in Boston that the ultimate fate of the legendary warship was finally revealed by the almost omnipotent media: the guinea pig for the unbridled atomic bomb experiment, a new weapon to be carried out in the Pacific.

Soon the Prinz Eugen was sent to Philadelphia, where it was most prepared for the final "hit-the-road". By this time, the German crew had left the United States one after another to return to China, and now the rest were German crew members in technical positions, and a large number of American personnel had already been on board. There were some obstacles to communication between the two sides - such as the German-English name change of various posts and components, but by early February, the "Prince Eugen" was back at sea for sea trials, accompanied by many other US Navy personnel and experts. At this time, the ship's artillery and radar systems had been repaired and were ready to go into battle again, but there was no such opportunity. In Philadelphia, the Americans became interested in the main guns of the "Prince Eugen", and the two 203-mm guns of the A turret were removed for study. However, the Americans had little interest in the German radar, believing that its working method was far from the American radar, and in the end, in order to be safe in the future voyage, it took two days to dismount the original radar and replace it with an American radar. In these last days, the American media focused on the good relations between the United States and Germany, such as "flowers blooming on former Nazi warships".

In March 1946, the Prinz Eugen set sail for its final destination, Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. In the waters off Balboa, Panama, the U.S. Navy tested its sonar system (which, unlike the radar system, has long been of interest to the Americans). The American submarine playing the role of the attacking party fired a total of 34 practice torpedoes, all of which were detected by the sonar system of the "Prince Eugen" and accurately located. Hollywood seized the opportunity to harass in time: a director asked a German sailor if he knew the rank of the SS, and the German politely refused.

In the port of San Pedro, a group of German sailors once again set off for home. Only the last necessary personnel remained, and the last remaining ones would also leave the ship and return home when they arrived in San Diego, California, where the German crew had hoped to be able to go to Hawaii or Bikini to see the "Prince Eugen" in its final moments. On 1 May, the last German crew said goodbye to the "Lucky Battleship," and the current captain, U.S. Navy Captain Graubart, shook hands with them one by one.

On July 1, 1946, the "Prince Eugen" was ready at the shooting range in Bikini Atoll. At 7 a.m., Experiment A (Atomic Bomb Air Explosion Experiment) began. At 9 o'clock, a B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on the target ship fleet, the atomic bomb was detonated at 518 feet above the water, and some effect ships sank, but the "Prince Eugen", which was only 1,194 yards away from the center of the explosion, was only slightly injured and still floating on the water.

On July 25, the "Prinz Eugen" took part in the second test: Experiment B (Atomic Bomb Water Explosion Experiment). At 8:35 a.m., the atomic bomb exploded at a depth of 90 feet in the water, sinking a large number of effect ships, but Lady Luck was still stubbornly protecting her "darling", and the IX-300, which was only 1990 yards away from the explosion center, was still floating on the water, and there was no visible damage from the outside. This "Lucky Battleship" kept its luck until the very end. Due to the tremendous destructive power of Experiment B, the planned Experiment C, the deep-water nuclear explosion experiment, was cancelled.

On 29 August, the much-ordained Prinz Eugen was decommissioned and towed to Kwajalein Atoll in early September. The largely intact but radioradiated-tainted decommissioned warship is anchored near Kwajalein Atoll, where no one dares to approach, where it spends sunrise and sunset in the South Pacific alone.

Perhaps because of the "internal injuries" suffered during the nuclear explosion experiments, or perhaps tired of waiting for the life to be corroded, more than three months later, on December 21, the "Prinz Eugen" was damaged by a storm and damaged the stern of the ship, and it was seriously flooded, and it rolled up to 35 degrees. The next day, on its way to Enubuji Reef in Kwajalein Atoll, the Prinz Eugen capsized in a coral reef at 167°41'E's longitude and 8°44'S' south.