Hessen was a Kriegsmarine weather ship that was built in 1939 as the sealer Sachsen.

[1] Sachsen was built in 1938 as yard number 18 by Beidenfletherwerft Hugo Peters, Beidenfleth for Studen und Reederei GmbH, Hamburg.

She was converted to a weather ship and commissioned as WBS 11 Hessen on 8 July.

It was planned that she would be part of Operation Nussbaum, which was to land a weather party on the Norwegian Arctic island of Spitsbergen.

It was later decided that the personnel would be taken to Spitsbergen by U-boat and Hessen transported supplies to Narvik, Norway instead.

She was stationed between Spitsbergen and the east coast of Greenland, serving as a weather ship.

Operation Einsiedler, which was to establish a weather station on Bear Island, had been delayed by Allied activity off the coast of Norway during this time.

In August 1944, Hessen transported supplies to Narvik for Operation Haudegen.

The transport of personnel to Spitzbergen was undertaken by U-307 and WBS 3 Carl J. Busch.

On 14 March 1944, she was reclassified as a weather ship, serving as WBS 8 Hessen.

On 7 May 1965, Kitak foundered in the Norwegian Sea (64°40′N 00°30′E / 64.667°N 0.500°E / 64.667; 0.500), probably due to ice damage.