Wilhelm von Tegetthoff. However, concerns over the possible insult to Italy and Benito Mussolini of naming the cruiser after the Austrian victor of the Battle of Lissa, led Hitler to adopt Prinz Eugen as the ship's namesake. Prinz Eugen was launched on 22 August 1938, in a ceremony attended by Hitler and the Governor (German: Reichsstatthalter) of Ostmark, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, who made the christening speech. Also present at the launch was Regent of Hungary, Admiral Miklós Horthy, who had previously commanded Prinz Eugen from 24 November 1917 to 1 March 1918 prior to being named Austria-Hungary's Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet in the final months of World War I. Horthy's wife, Magdolna Purgly, performed the christening. After the defeat of Nazi Germany in May 1945, the German cruiser was surrendered to the British Royal Navy before being transferred to the US Navy as a war prize. After examining the ship in the United States, the US Navy assigned the cruiser to the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll. Having survived the atomic blasts, the cruiser was towed to Kwajalein Atoll, where she ultimately capsized and sank in December 1946. Prinz Eugens former captain Miklós Horthy returned to Hungary after the war. In 1919, following a series of revolutions and external interventions in Hungary from Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, Horthy returned to Budapest with the National Army and was subsequently invited to become Regent of the Kingdom by parliament. Horthy continued to rule Hungary throughout World War II. Horthy's government eventually fell after Germany invaded and took control of the country in March 1944 in Operation Margarethe. In October 1944, Horthy announced that Hungary had declared the armistice to the Allies and withdrawn from the Axis Powers. He was forced to resign, placed under arrest by the Germans and taken to Bavaria. He ultimately survived the war and later appeared as a witness at the Nuremberg war-crimes trials in 1948. After the war, Horthy settled and lived out his remaining years in exile in Portugal, dying in 1957. Notes Footnotes Citations Bibliography External links Tegetthoff class dreadnoughts – the primary online source for this topic since 1998 Austro-Hungarian Navy Tegetthoff-class battleships Ships built in Trieste 1912 ships World War I battleships of Austria-Hungary Ships sunk as targets Maritime incidents in 1922