The US Army, in cooperation with the US Navy and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, are recovering oil from the capsized World War II German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen in the Kwajalein Atoll.
These recovery efforts aim to ensure mission capability of the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein, while also protecting the sensitive ecosystem within the atoll.
The Prinz Eugen was transferred to the US Navy as a war prize from the British Royal Navy after the war, and in 1946, it was loaded with oil and cargo and was used to test survivability of warships during the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll.
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Naval Sea Systems Command and Office of the Supervisor of Salvage engineers are conducting the operation, which is expected to last until the end of October.
