Construction
Prinz Eugen was ordered by the Kriegsmarine from the Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel. Her keel was laid on 23 April 1936, under construction number 564. She was originally to be named after Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, the Austrian victor of the Battle of Lissa, though considerations over the possible insult to Italy, defeated by Tegetthoff at Lissa, led to the Kriegsmarine to adopt Prinz Eugen as the ship's namesake. The ship was launched on 22 August 1938, and was completed two years later, on 1 August 1940, the day she was commissioned into the German fleet. As built, the ship had a straight stem, though after her launch this was replaced with a clipper bow. A raked funnel cap was also installed.
Prinz Eugen was 207.7 meters (681 ft) long overall and had a beam of 21.7 m (71 ft) and a maximum draft of 7.2 m (24 ft). The ship had a design displacement of 16,970 t (16,700 long tons; 18,710 short tons) and a full load displacement of 18,750 long tons (19,050 t). Prinz Eugen was powered by three sets of geared steam turbines, which were supplied with steam by twelve ultra-high pressure oil-fired boilers. The ship's top speed was 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph), at 132,000 shaft horsepower (98,000 kW). As designed, her standard complement consisted of 42 officers and 1,340 enlisted men.
Prinz Eugen's primary armament was eight 20.3 cm (8.0 in) SK L/60 guns mounted in four twin gun turrets, placed in superfiring pairs forward and aft. Her anti-aircraft battery was to have consisted of twelve 10.5 cm (4.1 in) L/65 guns, twelve 3.7 cm (1.5 in) guns, and eight 2 cm (0.79 in) guns. The ship also would have carried a pair of triple 53.3 cm (21.0 in) torpedo launchers abreast of the rear superstructure. The ship was to have been equipped with three Arado Ar 196 seaplanes and one catapult. Prinz Eugen's armored belt was 70 to 80 mm (2.8 to 3.1 in) thick; her upper deck was 12 to 30 mm (0.47 to 1.2 in) thick while the main armored deck was 20 to 50 mm (0.79 to 2.0 in) thick. The main battery turrets had 105 mm (4.1 in) thick faces and 70 mm thick sides.
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