Prinz Eugen in 1945

N

NASAAN101

Active member
Guys,
this is my thread on PE: My question is Were Was Devonshire, was she behind Prinz Eugen or where was she at, Exactly? And Did Prinz Eugen have a Chance to Escape in to open water or were there British Sailors on board her to mak sure she didn't make a run for it? But there is the twist here, Her Ammunition was offloaded under British orders, so she didn't have any of her 8" shells.

So My question here is could she have gotten away or would she have been sank right off the bat or blow out of the water? and Explan why!

But there's an add on to this also: What If" light cruiser Nürnberg draw off Dido and one of the Distroyer Savage. Could PE draw off Devonshire and the other Distroyer Iroquois. what were the odds on them actually getting away, I know PE didn't have any shells, but she did have her torpedoes i believe?

Kind of what i told my two other friends don't sink PE, just corner her and force her to back down and give herself up, then if she dosen't pop off a few warning rounds at again see if she's back down, then if she dosen't, then sink her! But don't sink her right off the bat.

But what do you guys think? Or are they both dogmeat any way??
Nikki
 
Ok you have lost me on this one the Prinz Eugen is one of my favourite ships of WW2 and was the only German capital ship to survive WW2 in operational service, it spent the last few months of the war in the Baltic covering the German evacuation of East Prussia and supporting troops in action there.

As far as I am aware it was neither sunk nor "forced" to surrender it simply surrendered at wars the wars end on the 7th of May 1945.
 
MontyB,
This is a Wait if Question. she's one of my favorite ships to! that why i brought this up? what were here chances?
Nikki
 
Her chances unarmed against the HMS Devonshire and HMS Dido were nil considering both heavy cruisers had the same speed range.
However give both of them their full complement of arms and ammunition and start them out at 20000 meters and it would have been an interesting fight.
 
MontyB,
there were also two DD's there two (HMS Savage and HMCS Iroquois)! She and Iroquois were ordered to prolong the line until clear of Swedish and Norwegian waters when they were station themselfs on either beam of “Prinz Eugen, that way if she it to bolted for it she have them next to her! but she still had her speed which was 33 knots.
NIKKI
 
The problem remains one of an unarmed ship against 4 armed ships with fully trained and experienced crews, I am still backing the Allies on this one.

One other problem I have in envisioning this scenario is that the war is over where would the Prinz Eugen go, even if it went to neutral Sweden the Allies will have a new government installed in Germany who would demand its return.
 
MontyB,
if i remember right, most of her crew that was sith her, was there when she was commissioned! so i think she had a chance what did you mean by this: Allies will have a new government installed in Germany who would demand its return? ill talk to youlater ok.
NIKKI
 
NASAAN101 said:
MontyB,
if i remember right, most of her crew that was sith her, was there when she was commissioned! so i think she had a chance what did you mean by this: Allies will have a new government installed in Germany who would demand its return? ill talk to youlater ok.
NIKKI
Click to expand...

I am not so sure about that either as the ship took a lot of damage during the war including having a sizable chunk of her stern blown off in 1944 so they must have suffered a number of killed and wounded along the way.

However this is all beside the point because even if the Prinz Eugens crew were the worlds best there is still next to no chance that she could have taken on four allied warships without ammunition and won.
 
what did you mean by this: Allies will have a new government installed in Germany who would demand its return? ill talk to youlater ok.
NIKKI
 
NASAAN101 said:
what did you mean by this: Allies will have a new government installed in Germany who would demand its return? ill talk to youlater ok.
NIKKI
Click to expand...


Well it is after all 1945 and I am assuming May 1945 once the Third Reich ceased to exist a new controlling authority took over consisting primarily of Allied representatives and I imagine that the first thing they would have done is take control of German assets worldwide.

Therefore if the Prinz Eugen had escaped to a neutral port I am sure that it would have been returned as a German "asset".
 
MondyB,
It was President Karl Dönitz, who order her to Surrender, to British Royal Navy forces in Copenhagen on May 8th, 1945. but she sailed for Copenhagen on April 20th, 1945 after After expending all her ammunition. She sailed back to to Wilhelmshaven escorted by British cruisers Dido and Devonshire arriving on May 28th, 1945, once back in Wilhelmshaven, she entered Drydock. but my Question here is how could thay takle her shell off if she didnt have any shells? did she have her torpedoes?
Nikki
 
NASAAN101 said:
Guys,

So My question here is could she have gotten away or would she have been sank right off the bat or blow out of the water? and Explan why!

Nikki
Click to expand...
it was an escort mission after the surrender, the Prince Eugen had nowhere to run to. Even if she had tried to escape, and succeeded, any neutral country that she tried to escape to, would return both the ship and crew to the Allies, and the crew would face trial for war crimes ( firing on Allied ships after they knew the war was over )
 
NASAAN101 said:
MondyB,
It was President Karl Dönitz, who order her to Surrender, to British Royal Navy forces in Copenhagen on May 8th, 1945. but she sailed for Copenhagen on April 20th, 1945 after After expending all her ammunition. She sailed back to to Wilhelmshaven escorted by British cruisers Dido and Devonshire arriving on May 28th, 1945, once back in Wilhelmshaven, she entered Drydock. but my Question here is how could thay takle her shell off if she didnt have any shells? did she have her torpedoes?
Nikki
Click to expand...

I imagine most of her heavy ammunition was expended in the last days of the war supporting German troops in East Prussia and covering the withdrawal of troops and civilians to the west (roughly 2 million troops and civilians were evacuated from the area between January 1945 and May 1945 and there are numerous accounts of the ships activities during this time including pictures of its main guns in action).

What I would suspect was removed from the ship once it docked was was the lighter ammunition such as AA rounds and the torpedoes.


Here is a website dedicated to the ship and it gives a reasonable breakdown of the armament and ammunition: http://www.prinzeugen.com/PGIND.htm

Incidentally here is a question I have always refered to ships in female form ie "her" yet the Prinz Eugen is clearly a male name so do you refer to it as a "him"?
 
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Redcoat:
look, she didnt have any shells, all she could do floorit and hop she can out run them. BUt if she did have shell you better watch it, even with no shells she can still bite..
NIKKI
 
MontyB said:
Incidentally here is a question I have always refered to ships in female form ie "her" yet the Prinz Eugen is clearly a male name so do you refer to it as a "him"?
Click to expand...
In English speaking countries all warships are classed as 'female', but in German speaking ones they are classed as 'male'. ;)
 
i have 12-ship from germany: Battleships
DKM Bismarck-- Male
DKM Tripitz--female
--------------------
Battlecurisers
DKM Scharnhorst-- Female
DKM Gneisenau-- Feamle
--------------------
Heavy Cruisers
DKM Lützow--Female
DKM Admiral scheer--Male
DKM Admiral Graf Spee--MAle
DKM Admiral Hipper--male
DKM Blücher--male
DKM Prinz Eugen--female
--------------------
Light Cruisers
DKM Leipzig-- Female
DKM Nürnberg-- male
i could be wrong on this. But any way, even with no shells PE can still bite.
Nikki
 
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