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Barenfels

Location

north side of Askøy

Position

60º 31.5´N 05° 04.7´E

Depth

25-38m

Chart

M777

The Barenfels was a 7569gt German steamship with triple expansion and turbine engines. She was built in 1921 and measured 140x18x10 metres. In April 1944 she was sunk at her moorings in Bergen by a mine laid from a British mini-submarine. After the war the wreck was cut in two. The bow section was taken to Stavanger and salvaged. The stern section sank under tow while on its way to be salvaged, and became the wreck this page is about. 

 

The wreck lies on its port side with the stern to the east. The large rudder is visible, but the propeller has been removed. The stern itself is intact, but moving forward the wreck is increasingly broken up. The forward part peters out into a jumble of plates in about 20m. Barely 10-15 metres ahead of the Barenfjels, roughly NW and slightly uphill, lies a concrete barge. The stern is in 20m and the bow is in 6m, and the barge is upright. There is more wreckage on the seabed to the right (NE) of the barge. A hulk lies in the NW corner of the bay. Whilst the whole site is somewhat silty, it does have the benefit of being sheltered, and close to Bergen. The large yellow buoys in the bay are part of a NATO system for recording the sound signatures of warships. Dive boats at this site have been boarded by the authorities and sent on their way.

Links

http://home.eunet.no/~atleto/vrak/vrak.htm

http://www.skovheim.org/located/hordaland/barenfels/barenfels.htm