Diving the wreck of the "Prinz Eugen"

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Guys, I thought this might be of interest?


http://www.liddiard.demon.co.uk/phot...ugen/index.htm


Cheers, Ade.

[atcase]

Hi Ade,

some very interesting sites, my late father worked on both easter and christmas island in prep. for the bomb blasts, but as far as i know he was wel away when the bombs went off !

Ashley

[Matt Starr]

You know Ade, I never knew the Eugen ended up on the Atoll, I always thought it was just Jap and Ameican ships. What an end for a historic beast

[paddywhack]

i think if i remember right the way in which the ship was got by the americans was that they put a couple of countrys names inot a hat and who ever came out got it!(im not joking!) also one of the props for the ship is a mermerial(?) to german sailers back in germany! after the battle magazine did a great article on it!

[Darrell]

Wouldnt you think there would still be traces of radiation around the island?

[DonC]

Hi Darrell -

There are - on land - but radiation dissipates much more quickly over water, as it is constantly in motion. According to Ade's website, Bikini was opened for wreck diving in 1996, fifty years after Operation Crossroads.

Don

[Darrell]

Hi Darrell -

There are - on land - but radiation dissipates much more quickly over water, as it is constantly in motion.

Don

ahhh .. ok ... I thought they set the nuke off on the island itself

[Maurice]

Salvage

There is a German who wished to salvage the Eugen. He even wrote a book on that, complete with plans how to lift her, usage, etc. Main thing needed is of course money, that's why she still rest there.

Would however be great to see her displayed somewhere, not many German vessels of the Kriegsmarine have survived. The largest nowadays is the Flottentender Hela, for sale at the moment in Russia. Then we have several U-Boats, small and large, a former Vorpostenboat in Bremerhaven, some KFK's, a S-boot in the UK, some R-Boats, a converted M-Boote, but non of the large Kreuzers and battleships.
Speaking of this, does anybody know how things are going with the salvage of the Graf Spee?

Kind regards,

Maurice

[JaimeH]

I have a friend who has dove off and on for the last 15 years at Kwajalein. Up until a few years ago he could strip parts off the wrecks and send them back to the states, now it's part of the Park Services and the wrecks will just rust away. I have a section of my basement filled with this historical "junk" . I have a brass instrument panel from the Japanese sub RO 60 which sits at Kwaj, I have a brass port hole (I restored it) from a jap aircraft fuel tanker (that's still leaking). The tanker was originally British but the port holes have Kanji stamped in them. I have a war time photo of the same ship being strafed by US planes and then blowing up. Kirin Beer bottles, parts of a Curtis fighter (scrapped not shot down) Coca Cola bottles, Japanese and American ammo buckles etc. I love some of this stuff as much as my mint Wehrmacht stuff .

[TMurray]

I saw a documentary about 20 years ago on the Prinz Eugen where divers filmed the wreck. They said it was quite dangerous due to it being inverted it was easy to become disorientated, from memory there is live ammunition still on board. Would be quite a sight to see this ship raised!!.

[Robbie Farrell]

I believe the Arado floatplane was taken off in the United States before the ship went to the Pacific for her death. Does anyone know where her floatplane is now?

[paddywhack]

isnt in the same meseum(?) as the enola gay! im sure i saw a pic of the enola gay and in the background saw a ardo 196!!!

[TMurray]

You know Ade, I never knew the Eugen ended up on the Atoll, I always thought it was just Jap and Ameican ships. What an end for a historic beast

the Schwere Kreuzer Prinz Eugen was commissioned into the US Navy as USS IX-300

[Theodor]

There actually 3 Arado 196 preserved in the world nowadays. Two are in the USA, both from that battleship. The 3rd is in the Bulgarian aviation museum.

[behblc]

Sad end

A sad end for the Prinz but in 45 she was just so much metal waiting to be reduced - a war prize which was of no use to the new owners.
had GB got her she would have been scarpped , the Russians might have sailed her for a few years.

My father had some contact with Prinz Eugen - he was on one of the MTB's / GB's which went out to "sink" the Brest Squadron as they forced the channel in February 1942.
He told me they never got near them , "the whole German Air Force and Navy" were out with them".
Sad to see her slowly rusting into nothing.