Dhows, arms

 Ships alongside Mina Salman Jetty

issued note

 A German Heavy Lift Freighter on a  Bahraini Banknote


General Arrangement Plan of a DDG HANSA "Picasso" freighter (Drawing by A.G. Weser, Bremen)

The ship left on front is a heavy lift freighter owned by the "DDG HANSA" of Bremen (Germany), which ceased to exist in 1981 due to bankruptcy, or in more euphemistic or commercially correct terms: "HANSA"-Line, on request of her two major shareholders (namely Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank) had filed the "Voluntary Liquidation Settlement".

"HANSA"-Line was traditionally heavily employed in transport of project cargo from Europe and the US to the Middle East and India, and a very common aspect in all ports of this area.
Needless to say that "Hansa" liners visited Mina Salman (Bahrain) on a regular basis, too, and every crewmember on board kept such a banknote as a souvenir in these days.

The V-shaped masts (known as "Stülcken" gear) were especially designed for lifting heavy cargoes of several hundred tons of weight.
This ship is one of the "PICASSO" class, so named due to their unconventional design. The official name, however, was "Lichtenfels-Class".
The accomodation is split in two - aft were lodging the engineers and ratings, and in the superstructure forward (right on the forecastle) the master, the navigational officers and the radio operator.

The reason for was the fact that owners were afraid the bulky V-shaped masts to obstruct seriously the visibility for the duty officers on the navigation bridge. Further the main deck was often loaded with extremely voluminous cargo (boilers, pontoons, oil industry construction parts etc.) which were likely to obstruct visibility, too. Thus the navigating bridge was placed forward. Later it turned out that this has not really been necessary.

It is not possible to determine with absolute certainty which of the eight "Picassos" the ship above is. Even in the mid 1960's there were already various opinions about. The banknote has probably been designed based on a photo which has been taken by the Manama Port Authority, after the first pier came into service (cargo operations until ca. 1961 took place by transhipping it into dhows).

Following ships belonged to the "Picasso" class:
Neidenfels, Lichtenfels, Liebenfels, Ockenfels (built by A.G. Weser, Bremen), Lindenfels, Marienfels, Neuenfels and Rabenfels (built by Stülcken-Werft, Hamburg).

The ship at right is a freighter of London based Frank C. Stricks and in all likelihood belonging to its "City Class" (e.g. "City of York")