After the war,
Prinz Eugen was given to the United States as a war prize and comissioned as IX-300 USS
Prinz Eugen. Under a joined German-American crew the cruiser crossed the Atlantic and took harbour in Boston. The cruiser was extensively analysed and some pieces of equippment removed, including the sonar which was installed on the submarine USS
Flying Fish (AGSS-229). Afterwards, the cruiser was transferred to the Pacific. The ship suffered from engine failure on the way, due to the inexpirience of the US crew with the modern high-pressure superheated steam engines and more and more German crewmembers being dismissed.
Prinz Eugen was subjected to the nuclear bomb tests in the Bikini Atoll (Operation Crossroads) in 1946. The results of the blasts on
Prinz Eugen were of particular interest, due to the fact that the cruiser was a largely welded construction. The cruiser survived both tests and was towed to the Kwajalein Atoll afterwards. However, the nuclear blasts had caused a few leaks around the screws. With the ship heavily radiated and no crew on board, the leaks were discovered relatively late. Attempts to save the ship or beach it failed and
Prinz Eugen finally sunk on December 22nd, 1946. Attempts to raise the ship were planned immediatly after the sinking, in 1973 and 1989, but abandoned each time due to residual radiation. In 1979 one of the screw was salvaged from the wreck and returned to Germany. It now on display on a plaza in front of the Naval Memorial in Laboe.
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