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Open data · every figure carries its source

No gross tonnage is recorded for this vessel, so it cannot be ranked by size. Rank is only shown where the underlying measurement exists.
In brief
SS Bärenfels was a German steam cargo liner that was launched in 1921 for DDG Hansa. In 1940, she took part in the German invasion of Norway and was sunk by Fleet Air Arm dive bombers. Her wreck was raised, and in 1941, she was returned to service. In 1944, a Royal Navy midget submarine sank her, killing 11 of her complement. In 1947, her wreck was raised to be scrapped, but while under tow she sank a third time. The wreck is now a recreational wreck diving site.
Bärenfels was the fifth of a series of seven sister ships built for DDG Hansa that started with Altenfels (later renamed Stolzenfels) launched in 1915. The others were Treuenfels launched in 1916; Geierfels launched in 1918; Frauenfels launched in 1919; and Marienfels and Ockenfels launched after Bärenfels in 1921.
This was the second of four DDG Hansa ships called Bärenfels. The first was a steamship built in 1898 that the United Kingdom captured in 1914. The third was a heavy-lift motor ship that was built in 1951 and which DDG Hansa sold in 1972. The fourth was a heavy-lift motor ship that was built in 1976 and sold when DDG Hansa went into receivership in 1980.
Vessel particulars
Every value is as recorded in the source. Blanks are values the source does not hold — none is estimated from a sister ship or a class average.
Identification
Construction
Measurements
In context
Every figure in this section is a count, a rank or a percentile over vessels actually held in this registry — not over the world fleet, which is larger. Nothing here is estimated.
Germany is the country of registry for 885 vessels in this directory. The most common class under that flag is vessels this registry holds no type classification for (446 ships), and the median vessel measures 916 GT. Browse every ship flagged Germany.
Narrowing to both dimensions at once, this registry holds 34 general cargos flying the Germany flag.
Bärenfels was built in 1921, making it 105 years old. It is one of 59 hulls in this registry delivered that year, a cohort whose median tonnage is 1,858 GT. Across the whole of the 1920s the registry holds 516 vessels, median 2,350 GT. The median build year across the entire registry is 1995.
The registry attributes 6 vessels to Joh. C. Tecklenborg, with a median tonnage of 3,141 GT, delivered between 1906 and 1926. See the rest of that yard’s output.
IMO numbers are issued in broadly chronological blocks. Within 500 either side of 5605537 this registry holds 16 other vessels, whose median build year is 1921 and which range from 1920 to 1923. That places this hull’s registration in the same part of the series, consistent with its recorded build year of 1921.
Its IMO number, 5605537, carries its own check digit. The first six digits are weighted seven down to two and summed — 5×7 + 6×6 + 0×5 + 5×4 + 5×3 + 3×2 = 112 — and the last digit of that total, 2, must equal the seventh digit, 7. It does not, so this number as recorded does not validate; it is shown here as held rather than silently corrected.
Nearest by IMO number
| Ship | IMO | Built |
|---|---|---|
| Drachenfels | 5605519 | 1921 |
| Suomen Poika | 5605506 | 1921 |
| Elster | 5605729 | 1922 |
| Niobe | 5605344 | 1921 |
Same yard, same years
No ship class is recorded for this vessel, so these are not asserted to be sister ships — they are contemporaries from the same builder, shown because that is what the data supports.
Same fleet
Provenance
Vessel recordWikidata, released under CC0, keyed on this ship’s IMO number.
Written summaryQuoted from SS Bärenfels (1921) on English Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
PhotographBy Unknown authorUnknown author, reused under Public domain.