Prinz Eugen
| This page is about the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. For the other Admiral Hipper-class cruiser, see Admiral Hipper. |
Contents
Description
The Admiral Hipper-class, Prinz Eugen, 1945 is a premium gift rank IV German heavy cruiser with a battle rating of 5.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.95 "Northern Wind".
The Prinz Eugen is perhaps one of the most famous cruiser in World War II. It is best known for her long and fanciful career, from fighting alongside the battleship Bismarck in the Battle of the Denmark Strait in 1941, to the breakthrough between the British channel in 1942, and providing fire support for the retreating German army in the Eastern Front in 1945. The Prinz Eugen's career literally ended with a bang when she was used as one of the targets for Operation Crossroads nuclear tests in 1946.
General info
Survivability and armour
As with her sister ship Admiral Hipper, the Prinz Eugen features some of the best protection of all cruisers in the game. Her hull is covered with several layers of armour which can soak up and contain a lot of damage, save for some large calibre shells. She also has a very high crew count with 1,776 sailors.
Unfortunately, the Prinz Eugen's real-life fame will make her a priority target: expect to be showered with shells of all calibres from the enemies and putting off fires often. Due to how frequently and easily your secondary and AA armaments will be disabled (and several crew members being killed in process), it is recommended not to repair them to reduce crew loss until you've cleared from enemy fire.
Mobility
For a ship of this size and displacement, the Prinz Eugen's top speed is fairly good at 70 km/h (AB) or 60 km/h (RB). However, due to her mass and high centre of gravity, the Prinz Eugen suffers from excessive listing problem that reduce her traverse speed and throw off the aiming reticules into the air. This can be fatal if the ship is flooding, as too much listing angle can result in the ship capsizing and sinking.
Modifications and economy
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Armament
Primary armament
The Prinz Eugen's primary armaments consists of eight 203 mm/60 SK C/34 cannons arranged in four twin turrets mounted A-Bs-Xs-Y. While not the most powerful gun of its rank, it is still effective at dealing damage to all kinds of targets. One thing worth noting is that her APCBC rounds have very high penetration (265 mm at 10 km), this allows the Prinz Eugen to deal damage against heavily-armoured dreadnoughts, and especially deadly at closer range.
Secondary armament
These cannons are great for taking out destroyers, as they have a good rate of fire and damage output. They also makes decent anti-air guns for high altitude bombers, though not particularly reliable they will definitely make bomb drops harder to pull off. Depending on which target you want to focus on you may load different shells: HE shells for destroyers and other smaller vessels, time-fused HE for anti-air duties if there are a lot of bombers in the sky, and APHE for well-armoured destroyers. You can take manual control of the secondary guns (alt+2 by default), making them more effective and giving you the ability to change the shells depending on the situation you are in. However, this will leave you vulnerable to other cruisers because you will be focusing most of your attention on other vehicles, so it may be better to level up your AI gunners and leave the job to them, while you focus on other cruisers or destroyers with your powerful main guns.
Anti-aircraft armament
The Prinz Eugen is covered with 40 mm and 20 mm AA guns, boasting an overall much more effective defence than her sister ship the Admiral Hipper. These guns easily protect the ship from close-range air assaults, while the 105 mm secondary guns will make sure high altitude bombers think twice before presenting themselves as an easy target, though they lack the proximity-fused shells sported by American and British heavy AA guns. It is best to aim the guns yourself if they are coming in from high altitude because most strategic bomber can't manoeuvre very well, making them easy to lead and aim at. The 40 mm and 20 mm autocannons are also great at wiping out torpedo boats and other small vessels. Since they often carry torpedoes that can one-shot or critically damage you, the wall of autocannon fire will make those torpedo boats think twice before rushing you, allowng you to focus more on the main target like other cruisers or destroyers.
Additional armament
The Prinz Eugen is loaded with 22 G7a torpedoes launched from four triple launchers placed in pairs, twelve of them are loaded inside the tubes (six on each side) while other ten is stocked in ready racks. Up to 12 torpedoes can be launched from each side of the ship, doing so will reduce the maximum launch of the other side to 10. Due to quantity of torpedoes, the Prinz Eugen can launch a barrages of torpedoes to damage one or more ships at medium-to-long ranges.
Usage in battles
The Prinz Eugen is a solid ship with all-around strength that allows her to tip the balance of the team with great firepower and protection. Due to this, Prinz Eugen's presence is enough to draw the attention of most of the enemy team. Whether this is a blessing or a curse depends on how well you're able to exploit the Prinz Eugen's assets.
In a situation with only a few or no dreadnoughts, the Prinz Eugen is able to act as a vanguard for the team. Due to your status as a priority target, you can distract the enemy team into trying to take you down, and allowing your teammates to take a clean shot at an enemy. You can also use your large quantities of torpedoes to kill a preoccupied enemy, as they will be focused more on gunnery and will often does not have enough time to react to an incoming torpedoes.
To maximize the Prinz Eugen's protection, angling is a must. You can contain a lot of damage by exposing only one side of the hull while reserving the crews by proper damage control. Priortize on fire extinguishing as the ship will caught fire very often to reduce crew loss, and do not repair the secondaries and AA until the coast is clear as your replacement crew will ended up becoming a cannon fodder. Flood damage is generally manageable as long as you did not traverse your ship and cause a severe listing in process. Althought she remains relatively safe from flooding damage with ~80% of buoyancy left, you might need to repair the leaks as soon as the ship started flooding (~97%) to reduce water draining time, thought this is not as important as fire damage control and you can repair them later on when the flood is close to dangerous level.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Great firepower, can take on any kind of targets
- Very tough protection against most shells
- Powerful AA armaments, effective at all ranges
- Decent top speed despite its size
- Very high crew count increases her survivability
Cons:
- Priority target: she will almost always be targeted by the enemy team
- Catches fire very often in a firefight exchange
- Excessive listing on a turn often results in poor accuracy
- Armour is not thick enough to withstand some high-calibre shells
- Main battery magazines are located above shell rooms, meaning that a detonation is likely to be fatal
History
The Prinz Eugen was the third and final member of the completed Admiral Hipper-class of heavy cruisers. Launched in August 1938, she saw extensive service during WWII, including in the sinking of HMS Hood. Following the cessation of hostilities, she was transferred to the Americans who used her as a test target in the Baker nuclear test. Due to the damage received during the tests, she capsized and sank before repairs could be made.[1]
Design and development
The German Kriegsmarine began to design heavy cruisers in the early 1930s, despite the fact that the Treaty of Versailles banned them from building any ships of the type. Two designs were considered - a heavy cruiser with eight 203 mm (8-inch) guns in four double turrets, and a light cruiser with twelve 152 mm (6-inch) guns in four triple turrets, similar to those found on the Nürnberg. In the end, the heavier option was chosen; however, numerous design improvements resulted in the ship being significantly larger than originally intended.[1]
The final design displaced 14,247 tons and was 205 metres long, larger than the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee.[1] Armament was to consist of four dual 203 mm turrets, twelve 105 mm dual-purpose secondary guns and numerous anti-aircraft guns. The ship also carried 22 torpedoes in four triple launchers with 10 reloads, as well as three Arado Ar 196 scout planes.[1] The main armour belt was between 70-80 mm in thickness, and armour of up to 160 mm thickness could be found on the conning tower. The ship could reach 32.5 kts (60 km/h) and had a range of 5050 nautical miles at 15 kts.[1]
The German Kriegsmarine placed orders for a total of five Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers, to be known as Admiral Hipper, Blücher, Prinz Eugen, Seydlitz, and Lützow. Of these, the Seydlitz and Lützow would never be completed; Lützow would be sold to the Soviet Union and eventually scrapped, while Seydlitz was scuttled in 1945 after plans to convert her into an aircraft carrier failed. The contract for Prinz Eugen was placed in November of 1935. Following three years of construction, the ship was launched in August of 1938.[1]
Service life
The Prinz Eugen was then fitted out and underwent numerous sea trials, before being formally commissioned on August 1st 1940. The ship then conducted exercises with U-boats and the battleship Bismarck, between September 1940 and April 1941.[2]
On May 18th, the Prinz Eugen accompanied the newly-commissioned Bismarck in Operation Rheinübung, or Exercise Rhine. After arriving in the Denmark Strait, the pair of ships engaged the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Hood. During the engagement, Prinz Eugen was able to hit Hood once before a shot from Bismarck detonated the battlecruiser's magazine, resulting in her destruction with the loss of all but 3 of her crew. After the Hood sank, the Prinz Eugen hit the Prince of Wales three times, without suffering any damage herself.[2]
Due to the Bismarck's damaged state, the two warships broke off soon after the engagement. Prinz Eugen sailed for Brest, where she was repaired. Bismarck was not so lucky, sinking after a long engagement with the battleships HMS Rodney and King George V. While the Prinz Eugen was docked at the Brest shipyard, she was bombed and heavily damaged, losing 60 crew members. Soon after, she participated in the "Channel Dash", escorting battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau through the English Channel towards Kiel. She survived the dash without damage, having fired numerous 203 mm shells at pursuing British destroyers.[2]
In February of 1942, the Prinz Eugen departed for Norway with the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. En-route, the submarine HMS Trident scored a torpedo hit on Prinz Eugen's stern. The hit caused severe damage to her stern and rudder, but she was still able to arrive at Trondheim, Norway under her own power. There, she joined Tirpitz and Admiral Scheer to perform attacks on Allied shipping convoys.[2]
In January of 1945, as the situation looked dire for Germany, the Prinz Eugen was dispatched to Norway once again, this time to evacuate refugees and provide support. Between 10 March and 4 April 1945, the Prinz Eugen expended almost 5,000 rounds of 203 mm ammo. She also lost 9 men as a result of a Russian rocket. On May 7th 1945, along with the surrender of mainland German forces, the Prinz Eugen and Nürnberg surrendered in Copenhagen, Denmark.[2]
After the surrender, Prinz Eugen was handed to the British. Along with several other German and Japanese prize ships, she was handed over to the United States where she was commissioned as USS Prinz Eugen (IX-300). In early 1946, the Prinz Eugen traversed the Panama canal and sailed to Bikini Atoll, where she would carry out her final duty as a test vessel in the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests.[2]
On July 1st 1946, the 'Able' nuclear bomb was dropped on an array of vessels, including the Prinz Eugen. The ship, 1.1 km from the epicentre, suffered only minor damage. The second 'Baker' Nuclear test also failed to do significant damage. However, the shocks of two nuclear explosions caused leaks to form in the Prinz Eugen's hull. As well, the ship could not be repaired due to the high levels of radiation.[2] On December 22nd 1946, the Prinz Eugen developed a severe list, and capsized in Kwajalein Atoll. The ship was never salvaged due to the levels of radiation, but one of the ship's propellers was removed and installed near Kiel as a memorial for those who served in the Second World War.[2]
Devblog
Prinz Eugen, named after an 18th-century Austrian general, was the third and last ship of the German Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers to see completion. Although being ready for commissioning in July 1940, an RAF air raid on Kiel lightly damaged the warship, causing its commissioning to be delayed until August.
After passing sea trials in late 1940, Prinz Eugen was assigned to its first, and arguably its most well-known combat mission - Operation Rheinübung - alongside battleship Bismarck in May 1941. Following some repairs in France, Prinz Eugen was assigned to operations in Norwegian waters in 1942, though this undertaking was cut short by a successful torpedo attack performed by the British submarine HMS Trident, which heavily damaged Prinz Eugen. As a result, Prinz Eugen was ordered back to Germany for repairs.
Once repaired, Prinz Eugen returned to service in the late stages of WWII, acting initially as a training vessel for naval officers and providing artillery support for German ground units on the Eastern Front later on.
After the ceasefire in Europe, Prinz Eugen was handed over to the U.S. Navy as a war prize. After a detailed study of the ship’s design, the U.S. Navy assigned the warship to a nuclear weapons test at the Bikini Atoll in 1946. Having survived two nuclear blasts one aerial and one underwater Prinz Eugen with minor damage was towed to Enubuj Island which was a part of Kwajalein Atoll. There the cruiser was the target of another underwater nuclear explosion. The ship stayed afloat again but the damage caused, coupled with the lack of a concerted effort for survivability, resulted in it eventually capsizing and sinking.
Media
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- Images
- Store Pack Images
- Devblog Images
See also
- Vessels of a similar role, configuration or era
External links
References
Bibliography
- WW2 Cruisers. (n.d.). Hipper Class. Retrieved November 13, 2020. Website
- Rico, J. M. (1998). The Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen. Retrieved November 13, 2020. Website
| Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft | |
|---|---|
| Destroyers | |
| Type 1934A | Z12 Erich Giese |
| Heavy Cruisers | |
| Admiral Hipper-class | Prinz Eugen |
| Battleships | |
| Bayern-class | SMS Sachsen |
| Germany heavy cruisers | |
|---|---|
| Admiral Hipper-class | Admiral Hipper · Prinz Eugen |
| Deutschland-class | Admiral Graf Spee |
| Germany premium ships | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | LS 4 Esau · KM-5 · S-204 Lang · S-701 |
| Minelayers | VS-8 |
| Sub-chasers | M-802 |
| Frigates | Lübeck |
| Destroyers | Jaguar · Luchs · T31 · Z20 Karl Galster · Z25 · Z47 |
| Light cruisers | Karlsruhe |
| Heavy cruisers | Prinz Eugen |
| Battleships | SMS Nassau |
