GERMAN HEAVY CRUISER "PRINZ EUGEN" 1945

Description

The Prinz Eugen 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 the third ship of the Hipper-class heavy cruisers. Like her sister ships, Admiral Hipper and Blücher, she was built in the mid-1930s. During the planning and design stage, she was known as "Kreuzer J" (Cruiser J). Her keel was laid at the Krupp Germania shipyard in Kiel on 23 April 1936. Prinz Eugen was launched on 22 August 1938 and commissioned on 1 August 1940. Considered a "lucky ship", she survived to the end of the war (although she participated in only two major actions at sea). The ship sank following Operation Crossroads at Kwajalein Atoll in 1946. (Scale : 1/350e)