In May 1941 the German super battleship Bismarck steamed into the North Atlantic escorted by the 14,800 ton heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. The German ships were intercepted by the British battle cruiser Hood and battleship Prince of Wales. During the ensuing battle, the lighter armour of the battle cruiser Hood proved to be its downfall. Following a series of direct hits the magazine was penetrated and the resulting explosion tore the Hood in two.
For the remainder of the War the Prinz Eugen saw little action other than a dash up the English Channel to Norway. Following the German surrender, the Prinz Eugen was turned over to the Royal Navy. In 1946 the Prinz Eugen was used as a target at the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests. The ship survived two atomic bomb explosions and was subsequently towed to the US base at Kwajalein atoll for full evaluation of the damage. At Kwajalein the previously controllable leaks worsened and the Prinz Eugen capsized and sank.
My first sight of the Prinz Eugen was from the Continental Air Micronesia 727 as it banked and turned to land at Kwajalein. The upturned stern was resting on the reef with the rudder and one propeller breaking the surface. Through the tropical water, I could see the outline of the hull descending the slope of the lagoon.
The next morning we approached the stern of the Prinz Eugen by boat. I could now see that two out of three propeller shafts cleared the surface and one of the propellers was missing (removed in 1979 and now on display near Kiel).
The Prinz Eugen lies at an angle to the reef slope, almost upside down on its starboard side. Beneath the upturned hull, the superstructure is laid out along the sand where the weight of the hull has broken it to the port side. Sufficient superstructure remains to support the hull, allowing access to the turrets and deck. Above the bridge lies the gun director, an odd spherical structure.
The starboard propeller makes an ideal decompression station. Corals have become established on the blades of the propeller and the upturned hull. It is easy to spend decompression stops exploring this artificial reef and playing tag with the fish.
Other wrecks at Kwajalein Atoll include a selection of Japanese freighters and inter-island supply boats sunk by air attack during 1943 and 1944.