Gribshunden or Griffen (English: "Griffin-Hound" or "Griffin"), also known by several variant names including Gribshund, Gripshunden, Gripshund, Griff, and Griffone, was a Danish warship, the flagship of Hans (John), King of Denmark (r.

[3][4] Gribshunden sank in 1495 after an explosion while in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Ronneby in southeastern Sweden; the ship is one of the best-preserved wrecks yet discovered from the late medieval period.

As the premier ship of the Danish fleet, Gribshunden and the people and material it carried were symbols of military, economic, cultural, and social power.

[5][3][2][12][4] According to historical accounts, Gribshunden suffered an explosion, burned, and sank at anchor in the natural harbor near the town of Ronneby, Sweden in June 1495 while en route to Kalmar.

This is in part because the wreckage has been left undamaged by shipworm due to the Baltic Sea's brackish waters, measured at 7.7 practical salinity units at the Gribshunden site.

[5][6][14][13][15] In the 1970s, the local diving club discovered the wreck at a depth of 10 m (33 ft), in the Baltic Sea north of Stora Ekön, an island in the Blekinge archipelago off the coast of Ronneby, Sweden.

[3][8][4][16] Subsequent dendrochronological analysis of the ship's timbers showed that they came from oak trees felled in the Ardennes forest along the River Meuse watershed in the winter of 1482–1483, confirming a late medieval date for the wreck.

Gribshunden is the oldest carvel hull found in Nordic waters, and marks the transition to the adoption of much larger ships after the late medieval period.

[5][17][18] Gribshunden perhaps was designed similarly to the vessels used on voyages of exploration in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, and therefore archaeological investigation of this site may provide insights into the ships commanded by Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and others.

3D models of selected artifacts can be re-inserted into the photogrammetric plan of the shipwreck, ultimately delivering an interpretive tool to visualize the spatial relationships among the objects contained in the wreck.

[19] In August 2015, the shipwreck attracted international media attention when a well-preserved wooden figurehead depicting a mythical beast was recovered from the forward part of the wreck.

Suggestive of the ship's Gribshunden ("Griffin-Hound") name, the chimeric figurehead is described as a dog-like or dragon-like sea monster with lion ears, devouring a person in its crocodilian mouth.