HMS Prince Eugene

HMS "Prince Eugene" was a First World War Royal Navy "Lord Clive"-class monitor named after Prince Eugene of Savoy, an important commander of the War of the Spanish Succession who fought with the Duke of Marlborough. She is the only ship of the Royal Navy to be named after the general. Her 12" main battery was stripped from the obsolete battleship HMS "Hannibal".

The "Lord Clive" class monitors were built in 1915 to engage German shore artillery in occupied Belgium during the First World War. "Prince Eugene", with her sisters was regulaly engaged in this service in the Dover Monitor Squadron and was present at the First Ostend Raid, providing cover for the Inshore Squadron.

In the summer of 1918, "Prince Eugene" was taken in for a refit in which her two 12" guns were to be replaced by a single 18" gun from HMS "Furious" which had been converted to an aircraft carrier. This refit was not complete by the war's end in November 1918 and was immediately cancelled, "Prince Eugene" being put into reserve pending scrapping, as the reason for her existence ended with the liberation of Belgium. In 1921 "Prince Eugene" was scrapped.

References

* Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J., "British Warships 1914-1919", (Ian Allen, London, 1972), ISBN 0-7110-0380-7
* Gray, Randal (ed), "Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships, 1906-1921", (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1985), ISBN 0-85177-245-5