Prinz Eugen

[onejayhawk]

This is a short clip from a story that passes through Kwajalein Island in equatorial Pacific Ocean. The pics are real and not from the story.

Presently, we passed out of sight of the big island. Glenda expounded on the fish life in the lagoon and how it was different from the ocean side. After a while, we came upon the resting place of a famous German warship, the Prinz Eugen. Sean explained that it had steamed out with the Bismark on the battleship's only voyage. Even I had heard of the Bismark.

The ship rested top down on a slope. The hull looked like giant rusted knife, stuck edge up in the lagoon floor. The nose disappeared in the depths, but the rear stuck out of the water, with the propeller entirely dry. From a distance it looked unimpressive. As we pulled closer, a gull spread its wings, giving me a scale. Each of the three blades was wider than I was tall.

Germany lost the war and the Prinz Eugen. After the war, the US Navy used the cruiser to evaluate the effects of atomic bomb blasts. The bombs did not sink the Prinz, but it became too irradiated to salvage. A small leak went unrepaired until the ship capsized and sank. That was 1946. It still sits in shallow seawater doing what radioactive things do. One popular T-shirt says "Prinz Eugen Diver." There were too many levels of irony to sort.

[Igor]

I will admit to being a naval history buff, and wondering is he posting about a German cruiser when I saw the thread. Nice pics. ⚓️

[onejayhawk]

When I was with AAFES, I had a chance to bid for a job at the Kwaj PX. It was a two year, solo posting, so I didn't go at it very hard.

As noted in OP, the lagoon is larger than Delaware. The land area is smaller by 100-1, say Montpelier, VT inside the city limits. From orbit, it looks like a piece of string on the ground. What you see below is mostly submerged reef. Dry land is dark, except the populated southern island.