Hansjürgen Reinicke

Hans-Jürgen "Hansjürgen" Rudolf Reinicke (10 August 1902 – 29 January 1978) was a Kapitän zur See, commander of heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during the Second World War and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Reinicke was born in Frankfurt and grew up in the German Empire. He joined the Reichsmarine after World War I in 1922. After a period of training on surface vessels and assignments on torpedo boats he served in various admiralty staff positions during the Spanish Civil War and in the first years of World War II. In this function, he was involved in the conceptual planning of Operation Sealion, the never attempted amphibious landing of German forces in England. Reinicke was chief of staff to Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax during the Channel Dash, the transit of the ships of the Brest Group through the English Channel. In the last year of the war he was given command of Prinz Eugen. Prinz Eugen, stationed in the Baltic Sea, supported the German fighting retreat in the coastal region of the Eastern Front.

Following the German surrender in 1945, Prinz Eugen was handed over as a war prize to the United States. Reinicke, as a prisoner of war, co-captained Prinz Eugen under the leadership of his US Navy counterpart, Captain Arthur H. Graubart, during US sea trials. He was released from captivity in September 1946. Reinicke died in Wuppertal on 29 January 1978.