From: "Richard Chiappetta" chip@ccia.com
To: "Keith" pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Prinz Eugen duty story
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999
Keith,
I just got out of boot camp, seventeen years old and was assigned to report to San Diego for duty aboard the Prinz Eugen. I believe it was April or May of 1946. It was dusk and I looked out into the bay and saw the silhouette of this large German heavy cruiser, it was a sight to see and I was anxious to get aboard. When I got aboard I was awed by the sight of the large guns and several torpedo tubes. That's where the excitement ended. We were taken to the galley to eat and I must say it was not a very attractive or clean place compared to American ships although the food was good. I was assigned to the 4th division as a deck hand and taken to my quarters at the fan tail of the ship. This area also served as a store room for the ship stores loaded with canned goods and crackers etc. We were issued a fold up cot and some bedding. I was tired so I went to the head to get ready to hit the sack to my surprise this was one of the dirtiest and smelly heads I was ever in. Some of the commodes wouldn't flush, the shower room was just as bad. I finally hit the sack but was awakened during the night, I felt something on my stomach and legs I awoke to see large rats on my cot. This situation was never corrected and we had to learn to live with them Not to mention the millions of roaches. I was with some hardened sailors who went thru hell during the war and didn't care at all for this way of life.
Some of the German sailors were still aboard to train our sailors to run the ship. We got aquainted with them and I never saw any trouble but I heard there was some.
We took the ship to San Pedro, California to prepare for our trip to Pearl Harbor, the first leg of our trip to Bikini. The Germans were taken off the ship the middle of May. We left for Pearl, we never made it to the breakwater and brokedown. We came back to the dock and spent 15 days repairing the boilers. We set sail, everything appeared to be alright until we were a few hundred miles out of Pearl and something happened to the boilers. We came to a complete stop and part of the main deck was getting warm. Where the live ammo was stored was getting real hot. I remember taking my turn going down into the hot magazine, forming a bucket brigade, and throwing live shells overboard before they got hot enough to explode. Apparently they got things under control and the ship started to cool down. We floated around for a couple of days with no engine power. We tried to build a sea anchor out of a large piece of canvas and some 4X4's. We through it over board but I don't think it worked. Finally they got the ship running. The best they got was 5 or 6 knots, we finally got to Pearl where to my understanding they replaced the boiler. We were there for 30 days.
One of my duties was to stand fire watch while the workers were using cutting and welding torches.
We finally made it to Bikini Island and took our position for the bomb tests. To keep us busy they made us paint the entire ship light gray.
We secured the ship for the test. The 4th division was made up of about 20 of us. We were the last to leave ship. We were getting ready to go over the side to barges when we were called to attention. A VIP was coming aboard in the person of the Secretary of the Navy Forrestal to inspect the ship. When he was leaving he shook our hands and wished us good luck.
After test Able was over the 4th division was ordered to board the ship and prepare it for the rest of the crew. When I first saw the ship from the barge it did not appear to be damaged from the side we were approaching we went around the other side and was shocked to see the heavy structure all twisted. This was the side facing the bomb explosion.
We washed down the whole ship with lye to try to decontaminate it. It took us about three weeks, working only during the day, returning to our troop ship every evening, discarding all our clothing and getting new clothing for the next day.
After Test Baker the underwater test, the ship was too contaminated. We never did board it again and came back to the States for reasignment to the Heavy Cruiser USS Columbus.
Thats about it,
Richard Chiappetta
E-Mail chip@ccia.com
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