December 21, 2021 – The Rijeka Civic Museum has sent a public invitation to its citizens, but also to citizens of Italy, Germany, Austria, Britain and others to join in the final phase of preparation of the museum exhibition dedicated to the legendary ship Galeb, which in other countries is also known by other names.

The Invitation has been published on the website of the Civic Museum of Rijeka, on the website of the City of Rijeka and on the website of the Tourist Office of the City of Rijeka and concerns all those who have and wish to share objects, photos, videos or simply living memories of the ship Ramb III, Kiebitz and Galeb with the general public. These are the three names that this ship has sailed under during its long and rich history. The Rijeka Civic Museum collects physical memories by borrowing or using them permanently, but also intangible ones, available in the testimonies of people linked to the ship in various ways. Various elements will be taken into consideration, as well as human stories that may relate to any period in the life of the ship.

All interested parties can respond to the public invitation via the online form available on the website https://www.rijeka.hr/en/online-application-form-for-the-public-invitation-of-the- museum-of -la-ville-de-rijeka / or by e-mail This e-mail address is protected from spam. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or by calling the telephone number: +385 51 351 092

The restoration of the ship Galeb is financed by European funds within the framework of the project “Tourist promotion of the monuments of the notable industrial heritage of Rijeka”.

The ship is currently being restored at the Dalmont shipyard in Kraljevica, a small town on the north Adriatic coast. Most of the ship’s furnishings have been restored and the furnishings await their return to the original premises where it once stood. At the same time, the Rijeka Civic Museum, in cooperation with Nikolina Jelavić Mitrović, a multi-award-winning Croatian designer, is preparing a permanent exhibition of the museum that will show the rich and incredibly interesting European and world history of this ship.

Three names and three roles of one ship

The Galeb ship is best known to the general public as the maritime residence of former Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, who traveled aboard the ship around the world visiting member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement. However, this ship has a history that goes beyond it. She was built in Italy as a transport vessel, then became a warship and later a German minesweeper. The ship was badly damaged twice but was rescued both times. The Galeb was Tito’s ship, and after the break-up of Yugoslavia the ship was sold to a Greek shipowner who wanted to turn it into a yacht but was unable to do so due to financial difficulties. This ship found its last refuge in Rijeka, where it will become the first Croatian museum ship. We remind you that in 2020 Rijeka was the European Capital of Culture.

Under the name Ramb III, this ship was built and launched in 1938 at the Ansaldo shipyard in Genoa. The role of the ship was then intended for transport. The ship was to carry fruit from the south to Europe and for this purpose the construction of the ship was commissioned by the Italian company Regia Azienda Monopoli Banana (RAMB). It was the third of a total of four ships of this company.

Immediately after launch, at the start of World War II, the Ramb III was transformed into an auxiliary cruiser for the Italian Navy and carried food for Italian soldiers in Africa. During one of these voyages, in 1941 to the Libyan port of Benghazi, the ship was torpedoed in the bow by the British submarine Triumph and nearly sank. Thanks to the ability and skill of the Italian captain and crew, the ship was nevertheless saved in such a way that from Benghazi to Sicily she covered 900 nautical miles in reverse, after which she was towed for restoration work to the San Rocco shipyard, near Trieste. .

After Italy’s surrender in 1943, the ship was captured by the German navy and turned into a minesweeper by climbing minesweeper rails. The Germans renamed it: Kiebitz. As a minelayer, the ship laid more than 5,000 mines in the northern Adriatic. In November 1944, during the bombing of the port of Rijeka, she was sunk by Allied planes. He spent three years at the bottom of the port, at the end of the war, in 1947, he was recovered from the seabed by the company Brodospas of Split.

The vessel was then towed to the Uljanik shipyard in Pula, where it was dismantled and reassembled and completely rebuilt. Under the new name – Galeb – she was used as a training ship for the Yugoslav Navy. But the ship owes most of its fame to the fact that it was the maritime residence of former Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito during his state voyages. He thus became a symbol of the Yugoslav role in the Non-Aligned Movement. During his first trip abroad, Galeb set sail in 1953 for London. This trip was also a sign of Yugoslavia’s political turn towards the West after its withdrawal from Stalin and the Soviet Union. After London, and Tito’s meeting with Winston Churchill, there followed numerous state trips to countries in Asia and Africa with the aim of promoting the ideas and policies of non-alignment in the world affected by the division. in eastern and western blocks.

After Tito’s death, and after the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the ship was sold to a Greek shipowner. He wanted to turn the ship into a yacht, however, due to financial problems, the refurbishment project never saw the light of day. The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia declared the ship Croatian Cultural Property in 2006, following which the city of Rijeka purchased it with the intention of making it the first Croatian museum ship. With the accession of Croatia to the European Union, Galeb has become an integral part of the EU project “Tourist valuation of monuments of notable industrial heritage of Rijeka”. In 2019, the vessel was towed to the shipyard in Kraljevica, a small town on the northern Adriatic coast, where its reconstruction is underway.

The fourth life of the Galeb ship will be a museum life. Thus, after an eventful past, he awaits a peaceful anchorage in the port of Rijeka and the visits of many tourists. Through the museum exhibit, the ship will tell the story of its rich history, and the public invitation sent by the Rijeka Civic Museum allows all interested parties to include some of their memories that connect them to this ship in the museum exhibition.

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