History, Politics And Current Affairs

...Ran across an interesting pic this morning: USS Prinz Eugen (IX300) in Boston, on/about 22 JAN 46:
Now - Wiki says she had a mixed US/German crew that brought her into the states. Seems reasonable enough, and the German crew stayed until 1 MAY then returned to Germany.

My question is this - where did the German crew members come from? Were they interned aboard Prinz Eugen after her formal surrender in May '45? If so, did they report to POW facilities afterwards? Or did they come from POW ranks before?

Mike

The German wiki version explicitly says the 574 sailors who helped the US sailors to familiarize with her were from her original crew. Makes sense, they frist moved her from Kopenhagen to Wilhelmshaven were they were demobilized but kept employed* to maintain her until her future ownership had been decided.

*Most likely through the German Mine Sweeping Administration.

PS: Familiarize is a sub optimal choice of words. The US crew numbered less than 100.

M.Becker wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 3:37 pm The German wiki version explicitly says the 574 sailors who helped the US sailors to familiarize with her were from her original crew. Makes sense, they frist moved her from Kopenhagen to Wilhelmshaven were they were demobilized but kept employed* to maintain her until her future ownership had been decided.

*Most likely through the German Mine Sweeping Administration.

PS: Familiarize is a sub optimal choice of words. The US crew numbered less than 100.

M. Becker,

Thank you - this is one of those little bits of knowledge that does so much to fill in the complete picture!

Mike

I noticed it was mentioned aboard the USCGC Eagle that they had a bunch of German crew members to help get her across the Atlantic as well.

Were they perhaps given some perks such as promised to not be PoWs anymore and allowed to return to their homes afterwards?

Micael wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 5:28 pm I noticed it was mentioned aboard the USCGC Eagle that they had a bunch of German crew members to help get her across the Atlantic as well.

Were they perhaps given some perks such as promised to not be PoWs anymore and allowed to return to their homes afterwards?

Micael,

It seems reasonable that the Kriegsmarine POWs might have been handled somewhat better from the beginning - after all, even in WWII navies a significant proportion of sailors were technical specialists of one sort or another, not trained combat types. They would have been needed to keep the prizes maintained and eventually transported, and they certainly would have known about the issues the Wehrmacht prisoners had, so they had a lot of incentive to behave.

Mike

Micael wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 5:28 pm I noticed it was mentioned aboard the USCGC Eagle that they had a bunch of German crew members to help get her across the Atlantic as well.

Were they perhaps given some perks such as promised to not be PoWs anymore and allowed to return to their homes afterwards?

If they were that in the first place. POWs need to be taken care of by a much higher standard than demobilized ex military personnel and as far as perks go any job with the Americans would be it in the post war economic mess. A job that actually gets you to America.

Dick Baker of the previous boards provided this article for our 'Useful Links' thread over on the BC board. It might be of interest, as it has some detail on the crewing arrangements:

https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/201 ... inz-eugen/

Regards,

A plaque on USCG Eagle recognizes the US and German crew members who partook in her maiden voyage as USCG Eagle (including sailing through a hurricane) by name. Sailors are a special bunch, I am proud to say. Most of us recognize there is a much higher power at work on the oceans that humbles everybody sailing on them. It‘s Nature. She always has the last word.

1Big Rich wrote: ↑Wed Jul 05, 2023 11:09 am Dick Baker of the previous boards provided this article for our 'Useful Links' thread over on the BC board. It might be of interest, as it has some detail on the crewing arrangements:

https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/201 ... inz-eugen/

Regards,

This was a super interesting read, thanks for posting.

1Big Rich wrote: ↑Wed Jul 05, 2023 11:09 am Dick Baker of the previous boards provided this article for our 'Useful Links' thread over on the BC board. It might be of interest, as it has some detail on the crewing arrangements:

https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/201 ... inz-eugen/

Regards,

Excellent read.

M.Becker wrote: ↑Tue Jul 11, 2023 3:33 pm

1Big Rich wrote: ↑Wed Jul 05, 2023 11:09 am Dick Baker of the previous boards provided this article for our 'Useful Links' thread over on the BC board. It might be of interest, as it has some detail on the crewing arrangements:

https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/201 ... inz-eugen/

Regards,

Excellent read.

yes indeed. Enjoyed the read a lot

Glad you all found it interesting.

Our 'useful links' thread on the BC board is here:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/allthew ... t8600.html

Aside from trying to put useful info in one place, part of the effort with it is to create a record of URLs, in case any sites are lost to the wastes of cyber space, we have the URLs to access them via webarchive, or whatever portions webarchive will preserve of them.

Regards,