My father, who was part of the crew sailing it to Bikini, would have agreed. Said the gauges and electrical equipment were well made. But that the engines were finicky. Was on board her after Able test for a short time till the brass said to leave.
Sounds like you had a good dad way u spoke about him n maybe lucky surviving that war . I'm old and praying for peace now for sake of my kids and everyone elses kids .
I was a navy diver, we spent 2 weeks out on kwajalene in 1987. I was able to dive her about half a dozen times. The main deck at the stern is at about 35 feet of water and the bull nose on the bow is at about 110 feet. When I dove her the teak decks were intact and she was basically suspended upside down in very clear water. One of the best dives I made during a 25 year navy career.
I know this will get buried but my Grandfather served on Prinz Eugen. He was a radio/telegraph operator. He participated in Rheinübung and Cerberus. He was trapped in a crumbled bulkhead when she was truck by a torpedo and had to be cut out with torches. I have many stories of his service that I heard as a kid. Just like the Prinz he emigrated to the US. He was immensely proud that his ship survived both bombs.
@@EpicFTWGaming absolutely, all war is horrible. I had an amazing chat on Reddit a few years ago with the grandson of a man who survived Hood. Amazing this many years later their grandkids can connect. Life goes on
The Bismarck class and Hipper class were very elegant ships. I agree with you completely. Also, the two classes looked very much alike from a distance and were often mistaken for each other.
Scharnhorst, Hipper (with atlantic bow), and Bismarck (in that order) are the Top 3 if you ask me. Other navies also had some beautiful ship designs (US: North Carolina, Baltimore, and Cleveland; Japan: Myoko, Takao, and Yamato for its sheer size) but none come close to Scharnhorst in particular, imho.
The resistance of the ship internal anti-sinking hatches against pressure/vacuum shocks compared to the other ships shows the german engineering and manufacturing that started in the 1880's and still today is very good
My mind keeps drifting back to a snippets of information from several sources - including those Mark picks up on so well here but most of all: * Its was long suppressed but now well documented many of those involved in these & other tests died of radiation induced cancers. * The Prinz Eugen, like others, was both irradiated & contaminated - And those bombs included lethal in tiny doses Plutonium with a half life measured in millenia ..................... Commendable to remove the oil after it sank - but what would the radiation hazard have been 30, 40 even 50 years after the bombs?
@@Farweasel Environmentalists only concern about what you can SEE. So fuel oil is "a serious problem", although it would be broken down by nature in a few years. Yet the radiation that would silently kill you is ignored.... It's all cosmetic with 'green people'.
@@Arthur-jx8bm you must be illiterate, or you just didnt read the comment. The Brits bombed the crap outta german warships throughout the war. Prinz survived those. And it was nuked 2 times as this video discussed and it survived those as well. The nuking was done by American military as part of testing. This is for clarity. Since it seem possible that someone could still interpret Tem's comment incorrectly.
This brought back fond memories. Even though I was mainly interested in aircraft models, I built the Revell 1/720 version of the Prinz Eugen in the early 1970s. Thank you.
Bismark and Hood ,were the ones l can remember modelling ( Airfix) , carriers Ark Royal and Victorious ( in her later reincarnation as one of the first angle flight deck carriers).
Many artifacts remain of the Prinz Eugen. The last artifacts of an Admiral Hipper class cruiser besides Hipper's own bell and Blücher's anchor. -A propeller is in Germany. -A ship's bell in the Washington Naval Museum -A compass in Hampton Roads Naval Museum -A chronometer at Hampton Roads -An azimuth circle at Hampton Roads -A binnacle at Hampton Roads A lantern at Hampton Roads -Some of her Arado 196 floatplanes are around. One is in a German naval museum, one is in storage at The Smithsonian, and one being in a Bulgarian Naval Museum. -Before testing, two gun barrels from her A turret were removed, but they were also placed in storage at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Virginia. While photos are hard to come by, these two guns are believed to be displayed next to the only US Navy 18 inch gun in existence. A beautiful ship deserving of a great video. Thank you Mark.
People who entered the upside-down warship were happy to swim away with plates, cups, and whatever else had a German Naval Seal. To denote who it was made for. Woodwork had become slime and metal is flaked off as rust until nothing of it is recognizable. It had been under tow for scrapping, smelters ; to be made anew. See a junkyard to find war scrap as reborn and what died again. .
@@koalabrownie No one? That is s bold statement. There are not so few Nazi vessels turned into museums around the world- mostly submarines. It may surprise you, but tenths of thousands people actually pay entrance fees annually for being able to go inside them. Secondly, the ship itself has nothing to do with a regime. It is a warship as any other.
@@koalabrownie No one? That is s bold statement. There are not so few Nazi vessels turned into museums around the world- mostly submarines. It may surprise you, but tenths of thousands people actually pay entrance fees annually for being able to go inside them. Secondly, the ship itself has nothing to do with a regime. It is a warship as any other.
@@igorkratka Don't be naive, of course the regime matters, especially directly after the war. The only U-Boat that was deliberately preserved after the war is U-505. The Americans preserved it not because it was a nazi submarine, but because it was a nazi submarine that they captured in combat. The other full-sized U-Boat museums were all salvaged from the ocean decades later, or were retired from foreign service (Kaura / U-995). Other than that, there are only a few midget submarines here and there. There are no destroyer-sized or larger surface vessels surviving from the Kriegsmarine.
As a 13 year old in New Zealand, a friend of my fathers had an old ships clock on his wall, in his living room. When visiting with my dad, I happened to see the clock and asked him about it. He said it was the ships clock from the Prinz Eugen. Something that i have always remembered.
That's possible, on warships there were quite a few ship chronometers in the officers' cabins and where it was important to be able to read the exact time. Perhaps a ship chronometer made its way to New Zealand via detours. Before the ship was sent for testing, many things that can still be used must have been removed and sold.
A teacher of mine, about 45 years ago, once mentioned that he had served on the Prinz Eugen. In the nineties I visited the memorial of Laboe (which is near Kiel and where the type VII submarine U995 also is on display) and the one of its propellers that was shown in Dr.Felton's video.
I visited Laboe with school on an exchange with a school in Rendsburg in 1983. I went up the tower and had a good look at U-995. Sadly I don't remember seeing the propeller from Prinz Eugen. I made the airfix kit of her a couple of times and always preferred her to Bismarck.
My dad was seconded to her for the Channel dash as a radio operator. Never saw anything of the dash, was in the radio room or below decks the whole time. He served in 2 u-boats, the Prinz and after the war on a minesweeper clearing the harbours. I built models of the subs and the Prinz, never did get the minesweeper finished before he passed away in 2005
I visited Laboe in the 1960's. We were stationed in Bonn West Germany from 1963 - 1967. Daddy, ever the Navy man, had us go by ship from NYC to Kiel in 63 and then in reverse on 67. Wish I could grab a box of seasickness meds and travel back in time! Sadly, my "sea legs" didn't set in until the last 24 hours of each voyage.
Thank you for the video Mark, my grandpa turned 18 and was drafted into the US navy a couple months before Japan surrendered, and he was at the Bikini atoll during operation crossroads. It's always cool to see stuff related to that, it's amazing seeing film of what he saw with his own eyes.
That must of been quite something to see with your own eyes. Video footage even today with all our high tech really can not capture what it's like to actually see something like that in person. I've always wondered what it was like for the men who actually got to see those in person.
Yes Mark, great!! My grandfather was on that ship and wrote the book Unter Drei Flaggen. I was the one that saw the bell at the US Navy Museum in DC, although it is not on display anymore. I also met Capt Graubart in the mid-80s. He was a very well liked officer and the the German crew appreciated the good treatment of the US Navy.
The good treatment was most likely part of the deal for crewing the ship on it's voyage to the US. This is not to say Capt. Graubart wasn't a decent man, sailors do respect each other since they know who the REAL enemy is, the sea itself. According to Capt. Eric Brown the RAF made a similar post-war deal with captured Luftwaffe personnel. Basically "Help us maintain the Luftwaffe aircraft we've captured and are testing and you'll get good treatment, good food, and good living quarters while you're with us." The pledge was kept.
According to what he told me, my late grandfather also was on that ship once - when he was a kid. A relative of his (i think his uncle) gave him the opportunity and showed him around when it was moored up in what then was East Prussia
When I was stationed in Germany years ago I spent a weekend in Kiel and found myself at the memorial. I have a photo somewhere of me and a buddy standing in front of the propeller from the Prinz Eugen. Years later I was on a trip visiting friends living on Kwajalein where I spent a lot of time scuba diving in the lagoon there. We did at least two dives on the Prinz Eugen on a couple of my many trips there. The Prinz Eugen is capsized with the stern end sticking out of the water. My dive buddy took a photo of me sitting on the stern next to the propeller shaft that the propeller had been removed from the memorial at Kiel. A remarkable coincidence that I did not become aware of until a bit later. As an aside, I lost my dive knife during a dive on the Prinz Eugen. Perhaps the last casualty of the war.
I think you stood some meters away from the ship. Because there is no way you could have touched the ship, despite the fact the amount of radiation there.
@@harishadzibulic6603 According to what I've read, for short-term exposure the radiation contamination of the wreck isn't intense enough anymore to pose a significant risk. But I wouldn't recommend camping there. @OP I've been to the memorial roughly 30 years ago when i was still a kid. From my perspective then, the propeller seemed to be huge. But more interesting is what my late grandfather told me years later: When he was a kid, he got to visit the ship once - because a relative of his (I think his uncle) served aboard the ship at that time.
@@harishadzibulic6603 Thousands of us who were stationed in Kwajalein where the Eugen was towed, then capsized, have sat on it, dove on it, posed for pics, and penetrated the interior with lights and ropes. Everything is stripped out of it already. You are confusing 'radiation' with 'radionuclides'. Steel does not become radioactive on exposure to radiation. The Bikini radionuclides on the top deck are now underwater, and already dissolved away 50 years ago.
I've been doing a lot of reading about Operation Crossroads lately, and it's really good timing on Dr. Felton's part to post a video related to this event. While ships like Prinz Eugen survived the heat and blast of the nuclear devices, the radiation they produced would have sickened and killed enough of the crew to destroy the fighting ability of the ship. It was also discovered that the radiation could not easily be cleaned off the ships, as had been assumed.
True. Mutation of sea life happened where it came to rest when capsized. It explains the longest Moray Eel I ever heard of and found in an ocean-side sea cave system. Beige body with dinner plate sized purple places. Pink fins ... huge. I did not want to go find the jaws.
Thank you, Dr. Mark for reminding us of the power and utter, complete devastation caused by nuclear weapons. It's unfathomable to think that "someone" would use them as a threat in this day and age!!!
It may be even worse than you think. Modern nuclear ballistic missiles can have warheads up to 1.5 megatons, more than 70 times the power of the early Fat Boy bombs.
I meant an older German years ago, probably 20 years ago, at a local German club called Germania here in Cincinnati. I am first generation German war my whole family including my brothers were from there. I was born in chicago. Anyway, he said that he was going to Germany for a reunion. I smiled and said oh yeah? What kind of reunion? He said he was in the Navy. I said you were in The Kriegsmarine? He said he was on a cruiser and had seen the Bismarck because his cruiser was protection for it. That had to be the prince Eugen.
What should have happened to them? They were mostly not dyed in the wool Nazis nor war criminals. The war was over. And we needed their assistance to operate the ship. No reason to mistreat them.
@@Rick2010100 one of the major problems that the Americans couldn't figure out or maintain was their extremely high pressure boilers. They needed constant repairs due to their pressures im assuming they were hell on the boiler tubes, as with pressures that they used I'm forgetting how many atmospheres of pressure they operated at they were a constant pain in the butt although they were supposedly very efficient. I toured the Dahlgren naval weapons testing center in May of 2001 and they were cleaning up their barrel yard ( naval gun barrel) superfund clean up site. And I'm not sure but I think they scrapped the barrels from A turret around that time.
It would be a National Icon to see Prince Eugen today as a museum ship from another country in the USA sadly there curiosity got to the better of them with there Experiments. =ω=💦
As an 18-year-old, fresh out of boot camp, one of my father’s first duties aboard the USS Shangri-La was to witness the test blasts of Operation Crossroads. He never said much about his time in the Navy and he passed away in 2003 so I really enjoyed watching this!
I really enjoyed this episode. I share all my info with other history buffs and tell them to "spread the word" about this You Tube Channel. Have to give credit to Mark for making these interesting and enjoyable episodes.
Ah this brings back memories.. My grandad fought for the Germans in France, Barborossa, stalngrad, kursk, North Africa, battle of Berlin and more. Won the iron cross. Bless his soul
When I worked at an old peoples home - there was a man called Erich. Erich served on Tirpitz or Eugen - I dont remember anymore. His room was full of photos from him and his time during ww2, decorations.... - He was a really fine and nice guy. He always told me some storys and how proud he was to served on this sea monster
My father was aboard the USS Perkins DDR877 at Operation Sandstone he lived to the age of 87 and 11 months and died of vascular degeneration. He always said that if you think it was hot on the deck of a tincan in the Pacific that I should have been there when the heat of the atomic blast washed over him, Dad and the others were ordered up on the deck to witness the event.
Mark you should have noted that it was the Prinz Eugen that hit the HMS Hood first, when a 8 inch shell hit Hood's boat deck, between her funnels, and started a large fire among the ready-use ammunition for the anti-aircraft guns and rockets of the UP mounts before Bismarck's fatal blow to the Hood! After the Hood was sunk, the Prince of Wales recieved four hits from the Bismarck and three hits from the Prinz Eugen! During the Channel Dash PE heavily damaged the destroyer HMS Worchester, and covering German troop withdrawls on the Eastern Front one afternoon took out 8 Soviet tanks! The men of the Kreigsmarine dubbed the Prinz Eugen "the Lucky Ship"
For those lacking in 18th Century European History, Prinz Eugen von Savoie ( Eugene of Savoy) was a General in the Hapsburg Holy Roman Empire, who alongwith John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, defeated France in several Battles of the early 1700s ( Minden, Malplaquet, Turin, etc. With excellent Tactical expertise. His biography is interesting reading. Doc AV
He was very popular in England, largely among Marlborough's many enemies. Not saying he wasn't highly deserving, just that politics, as so often, can determine the forming of a reputation. Something similar happened after Waterloo when Wellington's political enemies made Blucher the hero, largely to avoid giving credit to Wellington.
Most of what I see in these documentaries were kept out of the history books when I was in school. I am so glad we have people like Mark Felton out there telling the true story. My teachers in school were terrible. I could add something extra to a topic or a story and they would get pissed off about it.
I often wondered what happened to the Prinz Eugen after she left the Bismark on that fateful cruise, as nothing seemed to be ever mentioned of her during the course of the rest of the war, now I know, thank you Dr. Felton for filling that gap in my knowledge. I knew she was constantly hunted by the Allies but that's all I could ever find out.
She got heavily damaged during the skirmish with PoW and Hood and left to return to friendly waters. For this Bismarck drove straight towards Norfolk and Suffolk to distract them (and possibly causing probably quite alot of brown pants). After meeting up with a Supply ship the crew found out that the engines were more or less screwed and moved to Brest. On their way there they heard the Captain Bismarck's last message. After entering Brest they were put into Drydock next to Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Shortly after Mister Moustache Man wanted all Surface Vessels back in the North Sea for a possible Naval Landing from the Allies (that was a ruse). After a quite alot of Bombings from the RAF (around 10-25 sorties) a German Ace in the OKL (Branch: High command for the Airforce) came up with the Channel Dash. After survinving the unexpected minefields Prinz Eugen moved to Norwegian Coast but met HMS Trident (Submarine) and was hit with a Torpedo. Back to Drydock. Till 1944 so Surface Action besides geting bombed. 1944 and 1945 constant Wehrmacht Artillery Support. In 1944 (forgetting that Foghorns exist) driving into Swirlemünde and rams Leipzig. One f*cking Metalplate kept her from sinking (she was scuttled 1946 near the Coast of Norway woth presumably Chemical weapons but that's still disputed). Prinz Eugen was in Drydock again. Then in 1945 Allied Bombings on her. They missed and instead hit Deutschland (renamed into Lützow). Said Ship was cut in half with this. The rest is history.
@@fabianmichaelgockner5988 the Prinz Eugen actually departed the Bismarck untouched, she was the only ship that left the skirmish with Hood and POW undamaged and was told to depart the Bismarck to escape the high risk of getting damaged or worse, sunk.
@@themilkyounevergot8700 the boiler room after doing crazy manovers to avoid being hit by 14' (Prine of Wales) and 15' (Hood): "Am I a joke too you?" But yes Prinz Eugen escaped 'untouched'.
@@fabianmichaelgockner5988 yea, but non of the damaged was caused by either ship, just a mechanical failure for travelling at full speed for a long period of time to try and escape from their last reported coordinates
Another wonderful program, pleased to be a patron. As a boy I had complete access to the Philadelphia Naval shipyard and got to go through all of the standard battleships, the Iowas battleships as they were retired , and others, such as Prince Eugene. Her displacement was estimated at just under 20,000 tons at that point and I thought she was a magnificent ship, dwarfed only by the Alaska and Des Moines class. The surveying officers noted her compartmentation seemed inadequate and she had no dual purpose secondary battery.
The 105 mm guns of the PE was dual purpose. In fact even her 203 mm main guns was used in the AA role on at least one ocation, and according to her crew, downing a couple of British bombers.
Watching them wander around on a highly contaminated ship blows your mind. The understanding on what radiation did to the human body was next to nothing. Those poor buggers paid for it over the next decades. Go read a book called Killing our Own. Gives you an idea as to what was known, what was hidden when the results were found out and the damage done across a nation by playing with atomics.
On a similar theme, my father was aircrew in an RAF Canberra, tasked to fly through mushroom clouds after an detonation, in the1950s (I think). He checked the New Year Honours List each year to see if he'd got a gong. Always peeved that he didn't get one.
Right up my alley! I did a speech back in High School on The Battle of the Denmark Strait. Prinz Eugen has a story arguably as interesting or even more so than that of the Bismarck. I have always wanted to visit Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands to see the wreck of the Prinz Eugen for myself. For those of you new to the history of the Prinz Eugen, you can see her sticking out of the water on Google Earth. Just search Kwajelein Atoll and search along the shoreline. The ship is upside down with the props sticking out of the water.
Visit? Try being paid to fly there and do contract work as a civilian. I did. Good workers like myself at the end of our contract were offered other oversea employment elsewhere. I was asked to renew my paid job at Kanton Island. Which had no population. was administered by the UK, and leased by the US Military/ Industrial Complex. See it today using Google Earth Pro. Once nothing except coral and palm trees all the infrastructure found there today came from the USA. Built and then maintained by paid US Civilians. Hired for years out of the USA. Until Kanton Island no longer served a purpose and reverted to the UK as an unpopulated island. Hummm. what did the Brit's do, y'think ?
About twenty years ago, I worked as a contractor for the Navy looking for radioactive materials in various facilities, including museums and warehouses. We were looking mainly for radium and tritium used in radioluminescent paints and long-lived isotopes from past nuclear activities. One of the facilities was Cheatham Annex in Virginia. I recall doing a radiation survey on a rangefinder from Prinz Eugen there. There may have been other of its equipment, but I only recall the rangefinder. I did extensive research on Operation Crossroads as it pertained to Hunters Point Shipyard in San Francisco. Some ships damaged in the Crossroads tests were towed to the shipyard where various decontamination techniques were tried on them. The most notable vessel was the carrier Independence. It was badly damaged in the blasts, but was fit to be towed to HPS where visitors were encouraged to visit her. After the Navy tired of playing with the ship, she was loaded with drums of radioactive waste and towed to the Farallon Islands where she was sunk by gunfire. Operation Crossroads was a colossal boondoggle with ignorance of its consequences on Bikini, the environment, the personnel who worked with radioactive materials they little understood, and even San Francisco where hundreds of millions have been spent on the cleanup of HPS. The admirals wanted their piece of the nuclear weapons pie and convinced the government to do tests Able and Baker at Bikini. Multiple tests followed Crossroads. If you want to learn more, the book Operation Crossroads is a great read. I think it's the one by Jonathan Weisgall.
Crossroads was done when the knowledge about radioactivity was minimal, and the harm was well underrated. Atomic energy and weapons is where one of human kind more stupid moves was made and the earth will be paying for it for centuries. But the push for Atomics for "peaceful purposes" will gain momentum as oil becomes prohibitively expensive. I doubt we will have figured out what to do with the leftover highly radioactive garbage by then. Look at the atomic plants in the US. Instead of being decommissioned as planned at a certain age, they are give extensions to keep running because the cost of decommissioning is more than the money made during an entire lifetime of service. The corporations owning them are desperately trying to fob the decommissioning costs off on the state. (Taxpayers of course)
@@sabrekai8706 Dove in Marshall Islands while stationed there 3 years, the long-termers usually get bizarre cancers and die younger than they should. I've got a few 'friends' growing on me, that I regularly have to chop back. They don't feel pain, so you take a sharp but not razor sharp blade, hold it vertical and _scrape sideways_ on the skin tumor until the margin pulls away. Go all around, then with your fingerneil pick away at it, until it's freed up. Yes blood but not much. It's like an artgum eraser. Flush it. Then using Korean small flake sea salt, NOT table salt, Korean sea salt, pack the divot in your skin with the salt. It only stings for a second. Put a bandaid on it, and 24 hours later, the divot will have shrunk to the size of a BB. If it's still inconveniently open, take organic tumeric powder, make sure it's REAL tumeric, then pack the divot with turmeric powder. Take Povodine liquid, not ointment, liquid, drip one or two drops onto the turmeric, and it turns into a nice tight black scab. Just a few drops!! A week later you can't even find the divot. This is my cosmetic advice to prevent discomfort and scarring. It works! But ... If things go 'hot and red' get to an ER quick.
It has to be almost 30 years since I visited the memorial in Laboe. I was still a kid back them - and i know I marveled at the seemingly huge propeller. Many years later my late grandfther told me that someone from his family - I think his uncle - served on Prinz Eugen, but in which capacity, I do not remember. He also told me that when he was a kid he got to visit the ship when it was moored up near his home in what once was East Prussia.
My Dad was on the U.S. S. Rockingham. Support vessel for Target Ship Prinz Eugen. He was tasked with ferrying scientists and equipment to and from the Bismarck`s kid sister by motor launch. He used to say he knew just how Japan felt. "They got hurt with numbers 2 and 3, and your Old Man got 4 and 5..."
Sheesh. I've known a sort of framework of nuclear facts (truth?) with regards to an atomic timeline, but your enumeration caught me off guard with a fresh reminder that the timeline has a fixed point, but it's a ticking russian clock, or time bomb under the absurdly, criminally inept biden junta ...
Yeah, and calling it a "junta", really? Being from Argentina, we know what an actual military junta is, no democratically elected american president can come close to being that.
@@Routerproblem mainly with structural resiliency, nuclear survivability. Questions of military annexation, crossing national borders in the face of weak, feeble-minded leaders waving papers overhead in the wind like [correction] Chamberlain is precisely how wars start. Americans - always on high alert for the previous Pearl Harbor ...
As a boy in the 50’s, I’d pedal my bike miles to look at the static display by the fence at Willow Grove NAS. One of the aircraft was a surviving ME 262 and the other was an Arado sea plane that was from the Prinz Eugen. Never knew how it survived the war or how it got into US Navy hands until your story.
To be honest, while we could claim him as the most successfull (at least to my knowledge) commander of austrian forces, Prinz Eugen would be considered a frenchman. He was from Savoy. (and only went to austria because he wasn't the heir to the savoy ruling position and wanted to prove himself. Which he did.)
This is one compelling fact and video of yours Mark that I never came across until now. Your depth of knowledge you share with the World is priceless. Thank You for your focus in your life to bring the truth to the surface.
Its actualy amazing that prinsz eugen survived the war as it had several instances it should have been at the bottom of the sea . It survived the encounter with hood and prince of wales. survived unscaved operation cerburus the channel dash . Other instances it had its bow blown of by a torpedo . was hit by a bomb with the los of 60 lives in brest . it rammed in to a light german light cruiser the leipzich almost snaping it in half fogg evacuating refrugees in october 1944 . floating for 14 hrs as its bow was stuck in the other cruiser. Survived 2 nuclear bombs . Its no wonder it was called the lucky ship by its crew,
Prinz Eugen was being called "Death Cheater" too by some people due survived what we called impossible situation for most ships being sank with lots of hits and under heavy fire. Thanks to their construction, Eugen was still afloat despite it was capsized above the sea with upside-down condition. Such a rare sight seeing it with my own eyes that 80 years ago German can make something what we called "Enginnering Magic"
@@hartonosutrisno5452 I think the prinsz Eugen took all the luck of the rest of the hipper class. cruisers, , as blucher and others didnt fare that well.
Try this as a trivia question (I stumped my brother-in law with it); what do the Japanese battleship Nagato and the German cruiser Prinz Eugen have in common? Answer; they were the largest vessels of their respective navies to survive the war, and expended in atomic tests after the war. Prinz Eugen was a credit to her designers and builders, that's for sure.
In my opinion, Prinz Eugen deserved better than to end up a target ship. It's sad sometimes the fate of some of these old warriors is in the end. But good video all the same, and I believe she would have been mentioned in Drain the oceans episode "The Atomic Ghost Fleet".
Mark is a true prodigy. He reads books to give us true knowledge of history. Not found on Google, or internet. A true scholar, I personally look forward to your new content. If you could make more, I would appreciate it.
I always thought it a shame she wasn't kept as a museum in Germany. Especially with her history. Plus I loved her and would have loved to visit her. But... It is what it is.
I dove her in 2014 as part of our expedition to dive the wrecks at Bikini Atoll. interesting dive, but i enjoyed the wrecks in the lagoon at Bikini more. entering one of the main gun turrets on the IJN Nagato (Admiral Yamamoto"s flagship which he was on when he ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor) was epic. live rounds still inside. and, entering the dive locker and the Captain's cabin of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, was absolutely fantastic. the epic history of all these ships, and the opportunity as a technical diver and WW2 history buff to dive them while they were still intact (a relative term, mostly) was a lifetime memory for me. thanks Mark, for keeping this history alive.
The United States detonated 928 nuclear bombs at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), now known as the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), between 1951 and 1992.
Though she was built and represented a dark regime, there is no doubt about it. She should have been saved same can be said about the Nagato. Two beautiful ships, to think if we'd saved them and be able to tour them would of been amazing.
12:16 - Sealing of tanks to prevent ecological damage, well after exploding a couple of nukes in the ocean. For some reason this made me laugh uncontrollably.
@@Easy-Eight Fuel oil is inorganic? News to me. It's a hydrocarbon, isn't it? Hydrocarbon is food for any number of bacteria and won't last long at all. I thought all oil is organic by definition of the word organic. What did the Germans make their fuel oil out of that makes it NOT a long chain hydrocarbon?
I am fascinated by your research and videos on this platform. I hope to see more of them in the years to come and can’t explain the childish joy I have when noticing a new video on RUclips! Thank you Dr!
That was very interesting! I’ve heard mini docs on bikini atoll but really found this done better! You spoil us giving this away on RUclips. Many thanks Dr. Felton!
My dad was a ship fitter who got to remove things from the Prinz Eugen and the Japanese ships that did not survive the nuking. He told me they torched out all the barber chairs and some other things they wanted to reuse. Then he watched the bomb drop from a distance away. The German ship not sinking was a matter of amazement for all of them.
Mark Felton, please cover the Allied invasion of Iran in WW2. It never gets any coverage for obvious reasons. Invasion that was followed by dismantling of all usable industrial tools and shipment of them to USSR or GB and confiscation of transport motor vehicles. The latter it has been argued caused a widespread famine. My grandmother would recall how people were tying stone to their stomach because of hunger.
This ship actually enjoys a rather strange form of "fame" in modern gaming culture. A fitting legacy for a ship that survived a world war and two A-Bomb tests...
I've always been interested in all maritime vessels (I just paint them - don't go on them due to seasickness) but , but knew nothing of this ship. It sure was a beauty and tough as nails. Thanks Dr. Felton for another fine video. I intend to share them with my friends who are ex-military officers on our monthly Zoom meeting. I'm sure that they will enjoy them as much as I do and will stimulate some lively discussion.
@@PlymouthT20 - Yes I am aware and have listened to him. In fact, I downloaded some of his ships to paint. He is so informative, but I do get lost after a while. It's hard to keep up. There is so much that I have learned. Love these channels. The commenters are very interesting too.
Incredible! Never knew Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen took such a pounding and survived. Crazy! Mark are you able to do a historical piece on the nuclear tests here in my home state of South Australia, after the war? The British tested numerous atomic weapons in the far north of our fine state and is contaminated even til this day. I was very surprised when my folks told me of the nuclear tests in the far north some years ago and it impacted a lot of people with horrible consequences because of the fallout. It’s something that is largely forgotten by many. I thought it may be a good video for you to do. I have thoroughly enjoyed your other videos on the varied WW2 history of my country. Many things I didn’t know as well. As always, thanks for sharing with us. Keep well. Regards, Caleb
The forgotten SMS Sleshwig Holstein is the most unknown ship of the history of WW1 and WW2. Mabey she is still at the bottom for practice. I wanna know all about her! She shot the beginning of WW2 in Poland.
@@graustreifbrombeerkralle1078 there's footage of her firing the first shots of the war, 11" fire and 20mm fire, plus footage of the crew, the captain looking through his binoculars, and an ensign using an optical device. Also footage of empty shell casings or powder casings being offloaded, pushed and kicked into a skip.
"Built like a kraut tank" obviously applies to ships too. When you research the damage sustained by the other PB's you see how well designed they were.
A testament to German engineering! They might have been outperformed in quantity by the USA and USSR, but German engineering quality is as undeniable as British tenacity!
Looks like the verifiable Nazi propaganda got to you. The "Superior German engineering" trope was a favorite tool of the Nazi propaganda ministry. In reality, Prinz Eugen (and all other cruisers of her design) were unecessarily heavy and large and were not much more potent or effective than contemporary heavy cruisers of the Allied navies.
Unsinkable Eugen - the unkillable cruiser. True German quality. "Problems arose... The US crews found the vessels propulsion system difficult and complex and she became "unserviceable"." I am glad the US later learned to deal with complex systems, or they would perhaps have lost the space race.
The pronunciation or intonation of Prinz "Eugen" is [… ɔ͡yˈgeːn]. By the way, Bremerhaven is not on the Baltic, it is on the North Sea, near Bremen. 😉Nevertheless, another fascinating story told by Dr. Felton.
Epic tale. That’s why I love Mark Felton. Great stuff. A wartime movie should be made, ending with the German crews gift of the High Sea’s badge to it’s American Captain.
Great story? I didn't know about the final resting place or the recovered propellor, etc. A beautiful propellor, by the way. I know that the Bismarck and Tirpitz had to be destroyed in the war, but wouldn't it have been interesting to find out how much of a beating they could take in these atomic tests?
I'd also like to add that the "small leak" he mentioned took 5 months to sink the ship, the Baker test was carried out on July 25th and the ship was left moored off bikini until september where she was towed to Kwajalein and didn't capsize until December 22nd where she sits to this day.
My father toured the Prinz Eugen just prior to the test. He said it was a beautiful ship and was amazed by the engravings on the engine casings.
She had good clean lines thats for sure.
My father, who was part of the crew sailing it to Bikini, would have agreed. Said the gauges and electrical equipment were well made. But that the engines were finicky. Was on board her after Able test for a short time till the brass said to leave.
Sounds like you had a good dad way u spoke about him n maybe lucky surviving that war . I'm old and praying for peace now for sake of my kids and everyone elses kids .
@@kevinhoffman3569 I’m here to please you father
Yeap Great
I was a navy diver, we spent 2 weeks out on kwajalene in 1987. I was able to dive her about half a dozen times. The main deck at the stern is at about 35 feet of water and the bull nose on the bow is at about 110 feet. When I dove her the teak decks were intact and she was basically suspended upside down in very clear water. One of the best dives I made during a 25 year navy career.
You're a lucky guy. Ever dive in Iron bottom sound? I heard that it is really a good dive, but wondered about sea snakes and dangerous sea creatures.
Was the contamination not a problem?
Do they still monitor the wreck for radioactivity?
@@TRHARTAmericanArtist average depth is around 1900 ft deep.
@@georgedistel1203 - Too deep! lol
I know this will get buried but my Grandfather served on Prinz Eugen. He was a radio/telegraph operator. He participated in Rheinübung and Cerberus. He was trapped in a crumbled bulkhead when she was truck by a torpedo and had to be cut out with torches.
I have many stories of his service that I heard as a kid. Just like the Prinz he emigrated to the US. He was immensely proud that his ship survived both bombs.
.
It is a shame it was not preserved.
What happened is definitely not cool, but it is pretty cool that you have a link to a real piece of history!
I wish I could sit and listen to all the stories, I love stories that are passed down and are real af
@@EpicFTWGaming absolutely, all war is horrible. I had an amazing chat on Reddit a few years ago with the grandson of a man who survived Hood. Amazing this many years later their grandkids can connect. Life goes on
Not sure why but these cruisers were some of the most beautiful ships ever made in my eyes.
The Bismarck class and Hipper class were very elegant ships. I agree with you completely. Also, the two classes looked very much alike from a distance and were often mistaken for each other.
Same reaction
Scharnhorst, Hipper (with atlantic bow), and Bismarck (in that order) are the Top 3 if you ask me.
Other navies also had some beautiful ship designs (US: North Carolina, Baltimore, and Cleveland; Japan: Myoko, Takao, and Yamato for its sheer size) but none come close to Scharnhorst in particular, imho.
As warships, I concur. As for merchant ships, have a look at the Cape San Diego (aka the Swan of the South Atlantic)
@@HerrRoehrich Love the scharnhorst and her story
The resistance of the ship internal anti-sinking hatches against pressure/vacuum shocks compared to the other ships shows the german engineering and manufacturing that started in the 1880's and still today is very good
My mind keeps drifting back to a snippets of information from several sources - including those Mark picks up on so well here but most of all:
* Its was long suppressed but now well documented many of those involved in these & other tests died of radiation induced cancers.
* The Prinz Eugen, like others, was both irradiated & contaminated - And those bombs included lethal in tiny doses Plutonium with a half life measured in millenia .....................
Commendable to remove the oil after it sank - but what would the radiation hazard have been 30, 40 even 50 years after the bombs?
@@Farweasel Environmentalists only concern about what you can SEE. So fuel oil is "a serious problem", although it would be broken down by nature in a few years. Yet the radiation that would silently kill you is ignored....
It's all cosmetic with 'green people'.
@@Pozi_Drive half life from nukes going off is going to be much smaller and not as pervasive like Chernobyl exploding.
@@Brecconable You haven't got a clue what you're writing here
@@Pozi_Drivedid you delete your original comment?
Very fitting that a German Cruiser that’s been bombed so many times by the British can withstand two nukes. Great video, as always.
*Americans
@@Arthur-jx8bm he meant the bombing true the war.
@@Arthur-jx8bm you must be illiterate, or you just didnt read the comment. The Brits bombed the crap outta german warships throughout the war. Prinz survived those. And it was nuked 2 times as this video discussed and it survived those as well. The nuking was done by American military as part of testing. This is for clarity. Since it seem possible that someone could still interpret Tem's comment incorrectly.
@@Marin3r101 My apologies, I thought he was referencing the Nuclear tests.
@@feddek9325 Yep, got that now, thanks!
My dad and I used to make models of various WW2 ships and planes when I was a kid and Prinz Eugen was the first German warship we worked on together.
Cool
This brought back fond memories. Even though I was mainly interested in aircraft models, I built the Revell 1/720 version of the Prinz Eugen in the early 1970s. Thank you.
Mine was the Yamato; she was a beauty during my pre-BBgun era.
Bismark and Hood ,were the ones l can remember modelling ( Airfix) , carriers Ark Royal and Victorious ( in her later reincarnation as one of the first angle flight deck carriers).
@@KlickyMonster, exactly the same for me - back in the '70s, mostly fighter aircraft, but also the sleek, beautiful Prinz Eugen warship.
Many artifacts remain of the Prinz Eugen. The last artifacts of an Admiral Hipper class cruiser besides Hipper's own bell and Blücher's anchor.
-A propeller is in Germany.
-A ship's bell in the Washington Naval Museum
-A compass in Hampton Roads Naval Museum
-A chronometer at Hampton Roads
-An azimuth circle at Hampton Roads
-A binnacle at Hampton Roads
A lantern at Hampton Roads
-Some of her Arado 196 floatplanes are around. One is in a German naval museum, one is in storage at The Smithsonian, and one being in a Bulgarian Naval Museum.
-Before testing, two gun barrels from her A turret were removed, but they were also placed in storage at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Virginia. While photos are hard to come by, these two guns are believed to be displayed next to the only US Navy 18 inch gun in existence.
A beautiful ship deserving of a great video. Thank you Mark.
Why and how did the Bulgarian's end up with one of her float planes?
@@gidi3250 They operated the Arado 196 themselves, the one in their museum is not actually from Prinz Eugen.
And it was sunk in shallow water. You can see it on google space view
People who entered the upside-down warship
were happy to swim away with plates, cups,
and whatever else had a German Naval Seal.
To denote who it was made for. Woodwork
had become slime and metal is flaked off as
rust until nothing of it is recognizable. It
had been under tow for scrapping, smelters ;
to be made anew. See a junkyard to find
war scrap as reborn and what died again. .
@@jcee2259 wait what? surely not diving on the Prinz Eugen?
So sad. Prinz Eugen would be an outstanding museum ship after war. It had everything. Beauty, career, story.
HMS Warspite would have been better.
No one would have wanted to memoralize a nazi warship.
@@koalabrownie No one? That is s bold statement. There are not so few Nazi vessels turned into museums around the world- mostly submarines. It may surprise you, but tenths of thousands people actually pay entrance fees annually for being able to go inside them. Secondly, the ship itself has nothing to do with a regime. It is a warship as any other.
@@koalabrownie No one? That is s bold statement. There are not so few Nazi vessels turned into museums around the world- mostly submarines. It may surprise you, but tenths of thousands people actually pay entrance fees annually for being able to go inside them. Secondly, the ship itself has nothing to do with a regime. It is a warship as any other.
@@igorkratka Don't be naive, of course the regime matters, especially directly after the war. The only U-Boat that was deliberately preserved after the war is U-505. The Americans preserved it not because it was a nazi submarine, but because it was a nazi submarine that they captured in combat. The other full-sized U-Boat museums were all salvaged from the ocean decades later, or were retired from foreign service (Kaura / U-995). Other than that, there are only a few midget submarines here and there. There are no destroyer-sized or larger surface vessels surviving from the Kriegsmarine.
@@koalabrownie it's a thing of the past.......ppl got over it, today ppl would pay a ton of money just to see one because of its rarity
As a 13 year old in New Zealand, a friend of my fathers had an old ships clock on his wall, in his living
room. When visiting with my dad, I happened to see the clock and asked him about it. He said it was
the ships clock from the Prinz Eugen. Something that i have always remembered.
That's possible, on warships there were quite a few ship chronometers in the officers' cabins and where it was important to be able to read the exact time. Perhaps a ship chronometer made its way to New Zealand via detours. Before the ship was sent for testing, many things that can still be used must have been removed and sold.
A teacher of mine, about 45 years ago, once mentioned that he had served on the Prinz Eugen.
In the nineties I visited the memorial of Laboe (which is near Kiel and where the type VII submarine U995 also is on display) and the one of its propellers that was shown in Dr.Felton's video.
I visited Laboe with school on an exchange with a school in Rendsburg in 1983. I went up the tower and had a good look at U-995. Sadly I don't remember seeing the propeller from Prinz Eugen.
I made the airfix kit of her a couple of times and always preferred her to Bismarck.
My dad was seconded to her for the Channel dash as a radio operator. Never saw anything of the dash, was in the radio room or below decks the whole time. He served in 2 u-boats, the Prinz and after the war on a minesweeper clearing the harbours. I built models of the subs and the Prinz, never did get the minesweeper finished before he passed away in 2005
I visited Laboe in the 1960's. We were stationed in Bonn West Germany from 1963 - 1967. Daddy, ever the Navy man, had us go by ship from NYC to Kiel in 63 and then in reverse on 67. Wish I could grab a box of seasickness meds and travel back in time! Sadly, my "sea legs" didn't set in until the last 24 hours of each voyage.
Thank you for the video Mark, my grandpa turned 18 and was drafted into the US navy a couple months before Japan surrendered, and he was at the Bikini atoll during operation crossroads. It's always cool to see stuff related to that, it's amazing seeing film of what he saw with his own eyes.
That must of been quite something to see with your own eyes. Video footage even today with all our high tech really can not capture what it's like to actually see something like that in person. I've always wondered what it was like for the men who actually got to see those in person.
Prinz was a class apart
Yes Mark, great!! My grandfather was on that ship and wrote the book Unter Drei Flaggen. I was the one that saw the bell at the US Navy Museum in DC, although it is not on display anymore. I also met Capt Graubart in the mid-80s. He was a very well liked officer and the the German crew appreciated the good treatment of the US Navy.
The good treatment was most likely part of the deal for crewing the ship on it's voyage to the US. This is not to say Capt. Graubart wasn't a decent man, sailors do respect each other since they know who the REAL enemy is, the sea itself.
According to Capt. Eric Brown the RAF made a similar post-war deal with captured Luftwaffe personnel. Basically "Help us maintain the Luftwaffe aircraft we've captured and are testing and you'll get good treatment, good food, and good living quarters while you're with us." The pledge was kept.
According to what he told me, my late grandfather also was on that ship once - when he was a kid. A relative of his (i think his uncle) gave him the opportunity and showed him around when it was moored up in what then was East Prussia
Ich habe das Buch gelesen. War unterhaltsam und informativ.
When I was stationed in Germany years ago I spent a weekend in Kiel and found myself at the memorial. I have a photo somewhere of me and a buddy standing in front of the propeller from the Prinz Eugen. Years later I was on a trip visiting friends living on Kwajalein where I spent a lot of time scuba diving in the lagoon there. We did at least two dives on the Prinz Eugen on a couple of my many trips there. The Prinz Eugen is capsized with the stern end sticking out of the water. My dive buddy took a photo of me sitting on the stern next to the propeller shaft that the propeller had been removed from the memorial at Kiel. A remarkable coincidence that I did not become aware of until a bit later. As an aside, I lost my dive knife during a dive on the Prinz Eugen. Perhaps the last casualty of the war.
Nah, the LAST casualty will be the guy who finds your knife 50 years from now, cuts himself whilst picking it up and dies of bacterial poisoning.
I think you stood some meters away from the ship. Because there is no way you could have touched the ship, despite the fact the amount of radiation there.
@@harishadzibulic6603 According to what I've read, for short-term exposure the radiation contamination of the wreck isn't intense enough anymore to pose a significant risk. But I wouldn't recommend camping there.
@OP I've been to the memorial roughly 30 years ago when i was still a kid. From my perspective then, the propeller seemed to be huge. But more interesting is what my late grandfather told me years later: When he was a kid, he got to visit the ship once - because a relative of his (I think his uncle) served aboard the ship at that time.
@@harishadzibulic6603 Thousands of us who were stationed in Kwajalein where the Eugen was towed, then capsized, have sat on it, dove on it, posed for pics, and penetrated the interior with lights and ropes. Everything is stripped out of it already. You are confusing 'radiation' with 'radionuclides'. Steel does not become radioactive on exposure to radiation. The Bikini radionuclides on the top deck are now underwater, and already dissolved away 50 years ago.
I've been doing a lot of reading about Operation Crossroads lately, and it's really good timing on Dr. Felton's part to post a video related to this event. While ships like Prinz Eugen survived the heat and blast of the nuclear devices, the radiation they produced would have sickened and killed enough of the crew to destroy the fighting ability of the ship. It was also discovered that the radiation could not easily be cleaned off the ships, as had been assumed.
True. Mutation of sea life happened where it came to rest
when capsized. It explains the longest Moray Eel I ever
heard of and found in an ocean-side sea cave system.
Beige body with dinner plate sized purple places. Pink
fins ... huge. I did not want to go find the jaws.
Considering the Baker shot, all this radioactive plume which adhered to all surfaces also due to the salt...
I'm curious how radioactive it still is
@@anthonyz7000 No longer radioactive!
@@jcee2259 link or photos pls
Thank you, Dr. Mark for reminding us of the power and utter, complete devastation caused by nuclear weapons. It's unfathomable to think that "someone" would use them as a threat in this day and age!!!
scary to watch these days too
@The Paradox Destroyer Wont make any difference He's nuts
@@3TQVK Agreed. A ' modern-day ' Hitler.
It may be even worse than you think. Modern nuclear ballistic missiles can have warheads up to 1.5 megatons, more than 70 times the power of the early Fat Boy bombs.
I meant an older German years ago, probably 20 years ago, at a local German club called Germania here in Cincinnati. I am first generation German war my whole family including my brothers were from there. I was born in chicago. Anyway, he said that he was going to Germany for a reunion. I smiled and said oh yeah? What kind of reunion? He said he was in the Navy. I said you were in The Kriegsmarine? He said he was on a cruiser and had seen the Bismarck because his cruiser was protection for it. That had to be the prince Eugen.
U.S.S.Nevada, and U.S.S. Pennsylvania were hard to sink as well.
A club called Germania? Sounds interesting😏
They use to say more people from Germany live in Cincinnati than from Ohio.
@@jayplay8869 Roflmao!!
@@jayplay8869 that's rude..they aren't Nazis..it was the navy.. your thinking the SS..
The fact that the German POWs gave the American captain a decoration speaks for itself..
They must’ve been treated very well
They kept the ship running as no one other knew how the geared propulsion system worked.
The captain had a austrian background and lived in Germany from 1931 to 1942 and served as assistan naval attache.
So he basically knew the germans.
What should have happened to them? They were mostly not dyed in the wool Nazis nor war criminals. The war was over. And we needed their assistance to operate the ship. No reason to mistreat them.
@@828enigma6 Like the rocket scientists.
@@Rick2010100 one of the major problems that the Americans couldn't figure out or maintain was their extremely high pressure boilers. They needed constant repairs due to their pressures im assuming they were hell on the boiler tubes, as with pressures that they used I'm forgetting how many atmospheres of pressure they operated at they were a constant pain in the butt although they were supposedly very efficient. I toured the Dahlgren naval weapons testing center in May of 2001 and they were cleaning up their barrel yard ( naval gun barrel) superfund clean up site. And I'm not sure but I think they scrapped the barrels from A turret around that time.
What a shame to see all these beautiful ships getting destroyed. Not to to mention the historic loss of these ships.
It was German. They lost and no one back then gave a damn.
After all of the horrors of war & Nazi atrocities..., people didn't want to be reminded of the past as they are today.
@@xtremenortherner *looks at Ukraine*...I think we moved on from Germany...
They would have been scrapped anyways
It would be a National Icon to see Prince Eugen today as a museum ship from another country in the USA sadly there curiosity got to the better of them with there Experiments. =ω=💦
As an 18-year-old, fresh out of boot camp, one of my father’s first duties aboard the USS Shangri-La was to witness the test blasts of Operation Crossroads. He never said much about his time in the Navy and he passed away in 2003 so I really enjoyed watching this!
I really enjoyed this episode. I share all my info with other history buffs and tell them to "spread the word" about this You Tube Channel. Have to give credit to Mark for making these interesting and enjoyable episodes.
Ah this brings back memories..
My grandad fought for the Germans in France, Barborossa, stalngrad, kursk, North Africa, battle of Berlin and more.
Won the iron cross. Bless his soul
His soul, yes, his cause not so much
When I worked at an old peoples home - there was a man called Erich. Erich served on Tirpitz or Eugen - I dont remember anymore. His room was full of photos from him and his time during ww2, decorations.... - He was a really fine and nice guy. He always told me some storys and how proud he was to served on this sea monster
My father was aboard the USS Perkins DDR877 at Operation Sandstone he lived to the age of 87 and 11 months and died of vascular degeneration. He always said that if you think it was hot on the deck of a tincan in the Pacific that I should have been there when the heat of the atomic blast washed over him, Dad and the others were ordered up on the deck to witness the event.
Mark you should have noted that it was the Prinz Eugen that hit the HMS Hood first, when a 8 inch shell hit Hood's boat deck, between her funnels, and started a large fire among the ready-use ammunition for the anti-aircraft guns and rockets of the UP mounts before Bismarck's fatal blow to the Hood! After the Hood was sunk, the Prince of Wales recieved four hits from the Bismarck and three hits from the Prinz Eugen! During the Channel Dash PE heavily damaged the destroyer HMS Worchester, and covering German troop withdrawls on the Eastern Front one afternoon took out 8 Soviet tanks! The men of the Kreigsmarine dubbed the Prinz Eugen "the Lucky Ship"
For those lacking in 18th Century European History, Prinz Eugen von Savoie ( Eugene of Savoy) was a General in the Hapsburg Holy Roman Empire, who alongwith John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, defeated France in several Battles of the early 1700s ( Minden, Malplaquet, Turin, etc. With excellent Tactical expertise.
His biography is interesting reading.
Doc AV
He was very popular in England, largely among Marlborough's many enemies. Not saying he wasn't highly deserving, just that politics, as so often, can determine the forming of a reputation. Something similar happened after Waterloo when Wellington's political enemies made Blucher the hero, largely to avoid giving credit to Wellington.
In German speaking countries Prinz Eugen is mainly known for his victory against the turks in Belgrad.
Most of what I see in these documentaries were kept out of the history books when I was in school. I am so glad we have people like Mark Felton out there telling the true story. My teachers in school were terrible. I could add something extra to a topic or a story and they would get pissed off about it.
Ship literally survived 2 Nuclear bombs and still floats: You gotta hand it to the Germans they make great ships
So did many other ships during those tests such as USS New York, and IJN Nagato only 9 ships sank from the Bombs at Bikini atoll
Meanwhile, her sister ship was sunk by hilariously outdated weapons fired by kadets and near-retirees in a Norwegian fjord.
@@Pow3llMorgan they were still 11”
A Poseidon with a definitely taken care of that problem
Cope
I often wondered what happened to the Prinz Eugen after she left the Bismark on that fateful cruise, as nothing seemed to be ever mentioned of her during the course of the rest of the war, now I know, thank you Dr. Felton for filling that gap in my knowledge. I knew she was constantly hunted by the Allies but that's all I could ever find out.
She got heavily damaged during the skirmish with PoW and Hood and left to return to friendly waters. For this Bismarck drove straight towards Norfolk and Suffolk to distract them (and possibly causing probably quite alot of brown pants). After meeting up with a Supply ship the crew found out that the engines were more or less screwed and moved to Brest. On their way there they heard the Captain Bismarck's last message.
After entering Brest they were put into Drydock next to Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Shortly after Mister Moustache Man wanted all Surface Vessels back in the North Sea for a possible Naval Landing from the Allies (that was a ruse).
After a quite alot of Bombings from the RAF (around 10-25 sorties) a German Ace in the OKL (Branch: High command for the Airforce) came up with the Channel Dash. After survinving the unexpected minefields Prinz Eugen moved to Norwegian Coast but met HMS Trident (Submarine) and was hit with a Torpedo. Back to Drydock. Till 1944 so Surface Action besides geting bombed. 1944 and 1945 constant Wehrmacht Artillery Support. In 1944 (forgetting that Foghorns exist) driving into Swirlemünde and rams Leipzig.
One f*cking Metalplate kept her from sinking (she was scuttled 1946 near the Coast of Norway woth presumably Chemical weapons but that's still disputed). Prinz Eugen was in Drydock again. Then in 1945 Allied Bombings on her. They missed and instead hit Deutschland (renamed into Lützow). Said Ship was cut in half with this. The rest is history.
@@fabianmichaelgockner5988 the Prinz Eugen actually departed the Bismarck untouched, she was the only ship that left the skirmish with Hood and POW undamaged and was told to depart the Bismarck to escape the high risk of getting damaged or worse, sunk.
@@themilkyounevergot8700 the boiler room after doing crazy manovers to avoid being hit by 14' (Prine of Wales) and 15' (Hood): "Am I a joke too you?"
But yes Prinz Eugen escaped 'untouched'.
@@fabianmichaelgockner5988 yea, but non of the damaged was caused by either ship, just a mechanical failure for travelling at full speed for a long period of time to try and escape from their last reported coordinates
Another wonderful program, pleased to be a patron. As a boy I had complete access to the Philadelphia Naval shipyard and got to go through all of the standard battleships, the Iowas battleships as they were retired , and others, such as Prince Eugene. Her displacement was estimated at just under 20,000 tons at that point and I thought she was a magnificent ship, dwarfed only by the Alaska and Des Moines class. The surveying officers noted her compartmentation seemed inadequate and she had no dual purpose secondary battery.
The 105 mm guns of the PE was dual purpose. In fact even her 203 mm main guns was used in the AA role on at least one ocation, and according to her crew, downing a couple of British bombers.
Incorrect on the last 2 points, but she was a beautiful ship.
I feel for the men who had to inspect the ships not long after a nuclear attack.
They were given a choice. It was that or KP.
Watching them wander around on a highly contaminated ship blows your mind. The understanding on what radiation did to the human body was next to nothing. Those poor buggers paid for it over the next decades. Go read a book called Killing our Own. Gives you an idea as to what was known, what was hidden when the results were found out and the damage done across a nation by playing with atomics.
On a similar theme, my father was aircrew in an RAF Canberra, tasked to fly through mushroom clouds after an detonation, in the1950s (I think). He checked the New Year Honours List each year to see if he'd got a gong. Always peeved that he didn't get one.
My grandfather was at a few of these test sites and developed cancer as a result
@@sabrekai8706 Some servicemen are exposed to some serious cancer causing s###.
Right up my alley! I did a speech back in High School on The Battle of the Denmark Strait. Prinz Eugen has a story arguably as interesting or even more so than that of the Bismarck. I have always wanted to visit Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands to see the wreck of the Prinz Eugen for myself.
For those of you new to the history of the Prinz Eugen, you can see her sticking out of the water on Google Earth. Just search Kwajelein Atoll and search along the shoreline. The ship is upside down with the props sticking out of the water.
Served in the US Navy and had a port visit in Kwajalein. Wish I had known she was there.
@@christinesommerfeld9815 first off, thank you for your service! Second, oh man that's too bad you missed out on that!
Visit? Try being paid to fly there and do contract work as a civilian.
I did. Good workers like myself at the end of our contract were
offered other oversea employment elsewhere. I was asked to
renew my paid job at Kanton Island. Which had no population.
was administered by the UK, and leased by the US Military/
Industrial Complex. See it today using Google Earth Pro. Once
nothing except coral and palm trees all the infrastructure found
there today came from the USA. Built and then maintained by
paid US Civilians. Hired for years out of the USA. Until Kanton
Island no longer served a purpose and reverted to the UK as an
unpopulated island. Hummm. what did the Brit's do, y'think ?
About twenty years ago, I worked as a contractor for the Navy looking for radioactive materials in various facilities, including museums and warehouses. We were looking mainly for radium and tritium used in radioluminescent paints and long-lived isotopes from past nuclear activities. One of the facilities was Cheatham Annex in Virginia. I recall doing a radiation survey on a rangefinder from Prinz Eugen there. There may have been other of its equipment, but I only recall the rangefinder. I did extensive research on Operation Crossroads as it pertained to Hunters Point Shipyard in San Francisco. Some ships damaged in the Crossroads tests were towed to the shipyard where various decontamination techniques were tried on them. The most notable vessel was the carrier Independence. It was badly damaged in the blasts, but was fit to be towed to HPS where visitors were encouraged to visit her. After the Navy tired of playing with the ship, she was loaded with drums of radioactive waste and towed to the Farallon Islands where she was sunk by gunfire. Operation Crossroads was a colossal boondoggle with ignorance of its consequences on Bikini, the environment, the personnel who worked with radioactive materials they little understood, and even San Francisco where hundreds of millions have been spent on the cleanup of HPS. The admirals wanted their piece of the nuclear weapons pie and convinced the government to do tests Able and Baker at Bikini. Multiple tests followed Crossroads. If you want to learn more, the book Operation Crossroads is a great read. I think it's the one by Jonathan Weisgall.
Crossroads was done when the knowledge about radioactivity was minimal, and the harm was well underrated. Atomic energy and weapons is where one of human kind more stupid moves was made and the earth will be paying for it for centuries. But the push for Atomics for "peaceful purposes" will gain momentum as oil becomes prohibitively expensive. I doubt we will have figured out what to do with the leftover highly radioactive garbage by then. Look at the atomic plants in the US. Instead of being decommissioned as planned at a certain age, they are give extensions to keep running because the cost of decommissioning is more than the money made during an entire lifetime of service. The corporations owning them are desperately trying to fob the decommissioning costs off on the state. (Taxpayers of course)
@@sabrekai8706 Dove in Marshall Islands while stationed there 3 years, the long-termers usually get bizarre cancers and die younger than they should. I've got a few 'friends' growing on me, that I regularly have to chop back. They don't feel pain, so you take a sharp but not razor sharp blade, hold it vertical and _scrape sideways_ on the skin tumor until the margin pulls away. Go all around, then with your fingerneil pick away at it, until it's freed up. Yes blood but not much. It's like an artgum eraser. Flush it. Then using Korean small flake sea salt, NOT table salt, Korean sea salt, pack the divot in your skin with the salt. It only stings for a second. Put a bandaid on it, and 24 hours later, the divot will have shrunk to the size of a BB. If it's still inconveniently open, take organic tumeric powder, make sure it's REAL tumeric, then pack the divot with turmeric powder. Take Povodine liquid, not ointment, liquid, drip one or two drops onto the turmeric, and it turns into a nice tight black scab. Just a few drops!! A week later you can't even find the divot. This is my cosmetic advice to prevent discomfort and scarring. It works! But ... If things go 'hot and red' get to an ER quick.
I always thought the Prinz Eugen and her sister ships were some of the most beautiful warships ever built!
It has to be almost 30 years since I visited the memorial in Laboe. I was still a kid back them - and i know I marveled at the seemingly huge propeller. Many years later my late grandfther told me that someone from his family - I think his uncle - served on Prinz Eugen, but in which capacity, I do not remember. He also told me that when he was a kid he got to visit the ship when it was moored up near his home in what once was East Prussia.
My Dad was on the U.S. S. Rockingham. Support vessel for Target Ship Prinz Eugen. He was tasked with ferrying scientists and equipment to and from the Bismarck`s kid sister by motor launch. He used to say he knew just how Japan felt. "They got hurt with numbers 2 and 3, and your Old Man got 4 and 5..."
Sheesh. I've known a sort of framework of nuclear facts (truth?) with regards to an atomic timeline, but your enumeration caught me off guard with a fresh reminder that the timeline has a fixed point, but it's a ticking russian clock, or time bomb under the absurdly, criminally inept biden junta ...
Wtf has biden to do with this..
Yeah, and calling it a "junta", really? Being from Argentina, we know what an actual military junta is, no democratically elected american president can come close to being that.
@@Routerproblem mainly with structural resiliency, nuclear survivability. Questions of military annexation, crossing national borders in the face of weak, feeble-minded leaders waving papers overhead in the wind like [correction] Chamberlain is precisely how wars start. Americans - always on high alert for the previous Pearl Harbor ...
@@Imtahotep I always thought it was Neville Chamberlain, at Munich. What was Atlee`s moment?!?
As a boy in the 50’s, I’d pedal my bike miles to look at the static display by the fence at Willow Grove NAS. One of the aircraft was a surviving ME 262 and the other was an Arado sea plane that was from the Prinz Eugen. Never knew how it survived the war or how it got into US Navy hands until your story.
That was just outside Philadelphia btw.
Prinz Eugen will probably forever be the last warship to carry an Austrian name 😔
hehe, probably :D
Ye
The fact that Austria is landlocked does make that seem likely.
To be honest, while we could claim him as the most successfull (at least to my knowledge) commander of austrian forces, Prinz Eugen would be considered a frenchman. He was from Savoy. (and only went to austria because he wasn't the heir to the savoy ruling position and wanted to prove himself. Which he did.)
@Israel Hands lol what? 😆
I think it is sad that this ship wasnt preserved. would have been great to visit such a beauty
i agree
This is one compelling fact and video of yours Mark that I never came across until now. Your depth of knowledge you share with the World is priceless. Thank You for your focus in your life to bring the truth to the surface.
USS Nevada also survived both atomic bombs tests.
Its actualy amazing that prinsz eugen survived the war as it had several instances it should have been at the bottom of the sea . It survived the encounter with hood and prince of wales. survived unscaved operation cerburus the channel dash .
Other instances it had its bow blown of by a torpedo . was hit by a bomb with the los of 60 lives in brest . it rammed in to a light german light cruiser the leipzich almost snaping it in half fogg evacuating refrugees in october 1944 . floating for 14 hrs as its bow was stuck in the other cruiser.
Survived 2 nuclear bombs . Its no wonder it was called the lucky ship by its crew,
It was the Prinz Eugen's stern that was struck by a torpedo from a British submarine in 1942.
Prinz Eugen was being called "Death Cheater" too by some people due survived what we called impossible situation for most ships being sank with lots of hits and under heavy fire.
Thanks to their construction, Eugen was still afloat despite it was capsized above the sea with upside-down condition. Such a rare sight seeing it with my own eyes that 80 years ago German can make something what we called "Enginnering Magic"
@@hartonosutrisno5452 I think the prinsz Eugen took all the luck of the rest of the hipper class. cruisers, , as blucher and others didnt fare that well.
Try this as a trivia question (I stumped my brother-in law with it); what do the Japanese battleship Nagato and the German cruiser Prinz Eugen have in common? Answer; they were the largest vessels of their respective navies to survive the war, and expended in atomic tests after the war.
Prinz Eugen was a credit to her designers and builders, that's for sure.
This is the best video you have put out yet Mark.
Great video👍 You keep WW2 fresh.
I've been interested in this ship since the 1960 "Sink the Bismark" movie. I learned much more about the ship from this, thanks
As always top notch archival footage. Seems the ship was as well made as one of your episodes!
In my opinion, Prinz Eugen deserved better than to end up a target ship. It's sad sometimes the fate of some of these old warriors is in the end. But good video all the same, and I believe she would have been mentioned in Drain the oceans episode "The Atomic Ghost Fleet".
Yep. It always makes me sad that ships like even the Enterprise and Eugen were not preserved.
Roger that.
Makes you wonder if they couldn't have been refitted for other service.
Take your opinion and ten dollars to Starbucks.
See which one is taken in trade for service.
@@jcee2259 The opinion...why? Because my closest coffee shop's manager would hire me on the spot just so that we could talk warships.
Mark is a true prodigy. He reads books to give us true knowledge of history. Not found on Google, or internet. A true scholar, I personally look forward to your new content. If you could make more, I would appreciate it.
I always thought it a shame she wasn't kept as a museum in Germany. Especially with her history. Plus I loved her and would have loved to visit her. But... It is what it is.
I dove her in 2014 as part of our expedition to dive the wrecks at Bikini Atoll. interesting dive, but i enjoyed the wrecks in the lagoon at Bikini more. entering one of the main gun turrets on the IJN Nagato (Admiral Yamamoto"s flagship which he was on when he ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor) was epic. live rounds still inside. and, entering the dive locker and the Captain's cabin of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, was absolutely fantastic. the epic history of all these ships, and the opportunity as a technical diver and WW2 history buff to dive them while they were still intact (a relative term, mostly) was a lifetime memory for me. thanks Mark, for keeping this history alive.
British physicists: we’ve bombed you, nuked and you still are afloat.
Prince Eugen: I didn’t hear no bell
Survived two atomic weapons and accompanied the Bismarck. What a career Prinz Eugen had!
Literally worked with every German flagship except maybe Terpitz .... hell of a carrier
The folks involved in the design and construction of the Prinz Eugen should be proud of their work. They did well.
Quality and fascinating work as always, Doc.
That underwater detonation was a crime against the earth. Devastating to the environment. Let's hope that's NEVER repeated.
Lol
As opposed to atmospheric testing? Do you even know what the damage to environment was from this test?
@@TheEvilmooseofdoom just as bad bro. Relax. Wanted to highlight the underwater detonation
The United States detonated 928 nuclear bombs at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), now known as the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), between 1951 and 1992.
Though she was built and represented a dark regime, there is no doubt about it. She should have been saved same can be said about the Nagato. Two beautiful ships, to think if we'd saved them and be able to tour them would of been amazing.
12:16 - Sealing of tanks to prevent ecological damage, well after exploding a couple of nukes in the ocean. For some reason this made me laugh uncontrollably.
@@Easy-Eight Fuel oil is inorganic? News to me. It's a hydrocarbon, isn't it? Hydrocarbon is food for any number of bacteria and won't last long at all. I thought all oil is organic by definition of the word organic. What did the Germans make their fuel oil out of that makes it NOT a long chain hydrocarbon?
I thought there was quite a bit of fuel oil left in the tanks. A big release all at once would make a mess of the established wildlife.
@@marcuslandry I think it's safe to say the fish would prefer not to be covered in oil; except on a plate. 🐠
@@Easy-Eight Fuel oil is extremely organic.
you cant change what's done in the past but you can decide to do something now
Thank you for featuring our Prinz. His story deserves to be told.
I am fascinated by your research and videos on this platform.
I hope to see more of them in the years to come and can’t explain the childish joy I have when noticing a new video on RUclips!
Thank you Dr!
Prinz Eugen one of the great warships to ever sail the oceans....
That was very interesting! I’ve heard mini docs on bikini atoll but really found this done better! You spoil us giving this away on RUclips. Many thanks Dr. Felton!
My dad was a ship fitter who got to remove things from the Prinz Eugen and the Japanese ships that did not survive the nuking. He told me they torched out all the barber chairs and some other things they wanted to reuse. Then he watched the bomb drop from a distance away. The German ship not sinking was a matter of amazement for all of them.
Awesome Work Dr. Mark Felton!! Greetings from Helsinki, Finland 🇫🇮
I feel like a learning child watching Mark's videos. So filled with information and perspective.
Mark Felton, please cover the Allied invasion of Iran in WW2. It never gets any coverage for obvious reasons.
Invasion that was followed by dismantling of all usable industrial tools and shipment of them to USSR or GB and confiscation of transport motor vehicles.
The latter it has been argued caused a widespread famine. My grandmother would recall how people were tying stone to their stomach because of hunger.
This ship actually enjoys a rather strange form of "fame" in modern gaming culture. A fitting legacy for a ship that survived a world war and two A-Bomb tests...
Strange indeed if you don't play World of Warships, or War Thunder...
*Nuke goes off*
Prinz Eugen: Tis but a scratch!
*2nd nuke goes off*
Prinz Eugen: That's all you've got!?
just a flesh wound
My grandfather served on this ship and had the name tattooed on his arm for decades. Cool video. US Navy
So cool that it survived to this day, no matter the condition. Such an awesome witness of a chilling period of history.
Maybe it’s better for a fighting ship, to slowly rust away on a deserted beach - it’s a little more dignified than being cut apart in a breaking yard.
As with most German ships of the time, very beautiful with amazing lines.
Theres Bismarck On the Background At The Prinz Eugen
Mark Felton--a true historical raconteur.
I enjoyed reading this video, it gives many details about the Prinz Eugen's history after the war.
Meanwhile few feet away......
IJN Nagato:Smiles in overturing slowly
And USS New York
I've always been interested in all maritime vessels (I just paint them - don't go on them due to seasickness) but , but knew nothing of this ship. It sure was a beauty and tough as nails. Thanks Dr. Felton for another fine video. I intend to share them with my friends who are ex-military officers on our monthly Zoom meeting. I'm sure that they will enjoy them as much as I do and will stimulate some lively discussion.
During WW2 it was christened "The Lucky Ship" within the German Kriegsmarine.
Are you aware of Drachenfel's channel, he's a very thorough Naval historian and may be of interest to you and your friends.
@@PlymouthT20 - Yes I am aware and have listened to him. In fact, I downloaded some of his ships to paint. He is so informative, but I do get lost after a while. It's hard to keep up. There is so much that I have learned. Love these channels. The commenters are very interesting too.
I played Azur Lane and was happy that you feature this ship
She was a true beauty.
Incredible! Never knew Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen took such a pounding and survived. Crazy! Mark are you able to do a historical piece on the nuclear tests here in my home state of South Australia, after the war?
The British tested numerous atomic weapons in the far north of our fine state and is contaminated even til this day. I was very surprised when my folks told me of the nuclear tests in the far north some years ago and it impacted a lot of people with horrible consequences because of the fallout. It’s something that is largely forgotten by many.
I thought it may be a good video for you to do. I have thoroughly enjoyed your other videos on the varied WW2 history of my country. Many things I didn’t know as well. As always, thanks for sharing with us. Keep well. Regards, Caleb
Every time I see what people got up to, back in the days, I think to myself, "it's a wonder that the world is still here."
The forgotten SMS Sleshwig Holstein is the most unknown ship of the history of WW1 and WW2.
Mabey she is still at the bottom for practice.
I wanna know all about her!
She shot the beginning of WW2 in Poland.
It's Schleswig-Holstein, but yes, I'd really like to see that, too!
@@graustreifbrombeerkralle1078 there's footage of her firing the first shots of the war, 11" fire and 20mm fire, plus footage of the crew, the captain looking through his binoculars, and an ensign using an optical device. Also footage of empty shell casings or powder casings being offloaded, pushed and kicked into a skip.
"Built like a kraut tank" obviously applies to ships too.
When you research the damage sustained by the other PB's you see how well designed they were.
Mark u should tell history of USS Nevada seeing she survived both tests as well
Brilliant video Mark; thank you.
A testament to German engineering! They might have been outperformed in quantity by the USA and USSR, but German engineering quality is as undeniable as British tenacity!
Looks like the verifiable Nazi propaganda got to you. The "Superior German engineering" trope was a favorite tool of the Nazi propaganda ministry. In reality, Prinz Eugen (and all other cruisers of her design) were unecessarily heavy and large and were not much more potent or effective than contemporary heavy cruisers of the Allied navies.
Unsinkable Eugen - the unkillable cruiser. True German quality.
"Problems arose... The US crews found the vessels propulsion system difficult and complex and she became "unserviceable"."
I am glad the US later learned to deal with complex systems, or they would perhaps have lost the space race.
Years ago I read that the Prinz Eugen's crew considered her a lucky ship. I can see why!
Islands in the Pacific and surrounding waters are beautiful. Always my favorite while in the Navy.
Another amazing story, Dr. Felton.
The pronunciation or intonation of Prinz "Eugen" is [… ɔ͡yˈgeːn]. By the way, Bremerhaven is not on the Baltic, it is on the North Sea, near Bremen. 😉Nevertheless, another fascinating story told by Dr. Felton.
The Cruiser Prinz Eugen was ca. 40 years ahead, as the US introduced geared propulsion systems only from the mid 1970´s.
@Israel Hands it was💀
Epic tale. That’s why I love Mark Felton. Great stuff. A wartime movie should be made, ending with the German crews gift of the High Sea’s badge to it’s American Captain.
Fascinating Material....ty Mark Felton
Thanks for another great video Mark
As someone who lived in lower decks in the US Navy, I would easily volunteer on a ship like this.
Great story? I didn't know about the final resting place or the recovered propellor, etc. A beautiful propellor, by the way.
I know that the Bismarck and Tirpitz had to be destroyed in the war, but wouldn't it have been interesting to find out how much of a beating they could take in these atomic tests?
That's got to have been the best raffle in all of history.
I'd also like to add that the "small leak" he mentioned took 5 months to sink the ship, the Baker test was carried out on July 25th and the ship was left moored off bikini until september where she was towed to Kwajalein and didn't capsize until December 22nd where she sits to this day.
Thanks again Mark! Drives me CRAZY when others say Prinz Yoo Jen!!!