Rau IX, Museum ship at German Maritime Museum, Bremen, Germany

Rau IX is a 1939 whaling vessel, the ninth of ten ordered by Walter Rau Lebensmittelwerke, now a floating exhibit of the Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum in Bremerhaven-Mitte. Its Maier-form hull has low water resistance and high buoyancy at the bow, keeping the harpoon cannon usable in rough seas. The ship lacks bilge keels for manoeuvrability and is powered by an oil-fired triple-expansion steam engine.

The vessel was built in 1939 at Seebeck shipyard in Wesermünde and initially belonged to a whaling fleet under German management. After the war, it passed through different owners and flags before returning to Germany in the 1960s for preservation as a museum piece.

The ship displays equipment from whaling operations that served German fishing companies working in northern waters. Visitors can see original tools and machinery that were part of daily work aboard whaling vessels of that era.

The vessel can be visited from spring through autumn and is part of the German Maritime Museum's exhibition. Visitors should wear sturdy shoes, as decks and stairs aboard can be tight and occasionally slippery.

The vessel was converted to hunt submarines during World War II and later flew Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese flags for decades before returning home. This mixed history shows how German ships continued working in international waters long after the war before being saved.