 Hessen was recommissioned on 1 April 1937 and served in the Kriegsmarine through World War II. On 31 March 1940, Hessen acted as an icebreaker for the auxiliary cruisers Atlantis, Widder, and Orion, on their trip from Kiel to the North Sea. She and her control ship, Blitz, were ceded to the Soviet Union in 1946. She recommissioned on 3 June 1946 as Tsel, and continued to operate as a target ship until scrapped in 1960.
