# Recovered oil from Prinz Eugen **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 29, 2018, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovered-oil-from-prinz-eugen/823693 "2018-10-29T23:44:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovered-oil-from-prinz-eugen/823693/1 "2018-10-29T23:44:52Z")
US Navy and contractors just finished recovering 250,000 gallons of fuel oil from the capsized Prinz Eugen just off Kwajalein Island. Believe that’s over in Stranger’s neck-of-the-woods. [Prinz Eugen](http://www.c7f.navy.mil/Media/News/Display/Article/1661622/us-navy-divers-recover-oil-from-wrecked-wwii-prinz-eugen/) Some fun facts in the article: Turned over intact to the Brits after WWII and transferred to the US. Survived the Able and Baker nuclear tests during the Crossroads series. Turned turtle after being towed to it’s resting spot off Enubuj island near Kwajalein. Made me look up Prinz Eugen [Prinz Eugen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_cruiser_Prinz_Eugen) And operation Crossroads [Operation Crossroads](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads) Mundane and perhaps only interesting to me but a good environmental story and history lesson. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovered-oil-from-prinz-eugen/823693/2 "2018-10-30T00:38:01Z")
Great link, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovered-oil-from-prinz-eugen/823693/3 "2018-10-30T02:04:35Z")
My Dixie-cup-on-a-string internet connection won’t let me read the articles. Does it address why the Hell they didn’t drain that oil before bombing the shit out of it? 😕 Seems like a no-brainer. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovered-oil-from-prinz-eugen/823693/4 "2018-10-30T03:57:44Z")
Sad, what it’s become. Prinz Eugen was the most beautiful warship ever made. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovered-oil-from-prinz-eugen/823693/5 "2018-10-30T05:12:05Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > My Dixie-cup-on-a-string internet connection won’t let me read the articles. Does it address why the Hell they didn’t drain that oil before bombing the shit out of it? 😕 > > Seems like a no-brainer. Well, they wanted to know how ships would take various types of punishment. Amazingly for some weird reason ships at sea are full of fuel. Which contributes to the kind of damage seen. I guess they wanted to have reliable results. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovered-oil-from-prinz-eugen/823693/6 "2018-10-30T05:20:29Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > My Dixie-cup-on-a-string internet connection won’t let me read the articles. Does it address why the Hell they didn’t drain that oil before bombing the shit out of it? 😕 > > Seems like a no-brainer. From the Operation Crossroads Wiki: “The ships carried sample amounts of fuel and ammunition, plus scientific instruments to measure air pressure, ship movement, and radiation. The live animals on some of the target ships[36] were supplied by the support ship USS Burleson, which brought 200 pigs, 60 guinea pigs, 204 goats, 5,000 rats, 200 mice, and grains containing insects to be studied for genetic effects by the National Cancer Institute.[24]” Also, the ship was an actual US naval vessel, USS Prinz Eugen. It was sailable and a mixed German/US crew shepherded it the US for inspection of its equipment and capabilities after WWII. After movement from Boston to Philly, the German contingent of the crew was sent home. The plan was to sail the ship to the target area but the US crew couldn’t keep the power plant running. 11/12 boilers failed so the ship was towed to the Pacific through the Panama Canal. Basically, the ship was fueled for the trip and ended up being towed. The fuel was not drained. From the Prinz Eugen wiki: “She was towed to the Pacific via Philadelphia and the Panama Canal,[79] departing on 3 March.[83] The ship survived two atomic bomb blasts: Test Able, an air burst on 1 July 1946 and Test Baker, a submerged detonation on 25 July.[85] Prinz Eugen was moored about 1,200 yards (1,100 m) from the epicenter of both blasts and was only lightly damaged by them;[86] the Able blast only bent her foremast and broke the top of her main mast.[87] She suffered no significant structural damage from the explosions but was thoroughly contaminated with radioactive fallout.[85] The irradiated ship was towed to the Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific, where a small leak went unrepaired due to the radiation danger.[88] On 29 August 1946, the US Navy decommissioned Prinz Eugen.[85]” The ship flipped over and sank before draining or other disposition (another test target, scuttling in deep water) could take place. Environmental concerns other than radiation contamination weren’t high priorities. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovered-oil-from-prinz-eugen/823693/7 "2018-10-30T15:56:03Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Environmental concerns other than radiation contamination weren’t high priorities. Understatement: Level, _Queen of England_ ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovered-oil-from-prinz-eugen/823693/8 "2018-10-30T16:56:09Z")
> [@Capn\_Carl](#): > > Sad, what it’s become. Prinz Eugen was the most beautiful warship ever made. Also a lucky ship, evading destruction on several occasions and even surviving a couple of atomic bombs. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovered-oil-from-prinz-eugen/823693/9 "2018-10-30T17:26:22Z")
When I read stuff like this: > [@](#): > > As part of the 1986 Compact of Free Association between the U.S. and the Republic of the Marshall Islands the U.S. transferred the Prinz Eugen title to the RMI. Beginning in 2010, RMI requested the U.S. provide technical and financial support for Prinz Eugen fuel off-load. > > In December 2016 U.S. Indio-Pacific Command worked with U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving to evaluate the current status of the Prinz Eugen and plan for a way ahead once funding became available. Following the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, which authorized expenditure of Army funds to off-load oil from the Prinz Eugen, Karen Brevard Stewart, U.S. ambassador to the Marshall Islands, and State Department staff played a major role in getting the diplomatic work accomplished in time to meet the short deadlines set under the act. Work began in February 2018 to plan for and execute the removal of the fuel oil. > > “Our team’s hard work over the last two years preparing for this project and assembling the right combination of equipment and technical expertise enabled our success in this very important mission to protect the pristine waters of Kwajalein Atoll from the risk of a catastrophic oil release,” said Stephanie Bocek, project manager at the Supervisor of Salvage and Diving. I think “now _that’s_ what being an American is all about: generous, helpful and committed to doing the right things.” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovered-oil-from-prinz-eugen/823693/10 "2018-10-30T17:57:27Z")
Well, we did kind of leave it there. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovered-oil-from-prinz-eugen/823693/11 "2018-10-30T21:50:31Z")
This has been a concern with a number of other wrecks as they slowly corrode; the _Arizona_ has been drained of oil somewhat in recent years and so has _Royal Oak_. _Prinz Eugen_ is perched on the edge of an abyss; a few yards further back and it would be thousands of feet down. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovered-oil-from-prinz-eugen/823693/12 "2018-11-01T22:34:21Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Also a lucky ship, evading destruction on several occasions and even surviving a couple of atomic bombs. Also a straight shooter: obtained hits before all 3 battleships at Denmark Straights.