Yugoslav Navy The Yugoslav Navy ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска ратна морнарица, Jugoslavenska ratna mornarica, Yugoslav War Navy), was the navy of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1992. It was essentially a coastal defense force with the mis ...

(JRM) training ship ''Galeb'', also known as The Peace Ship ''Galeb'' (''Brod Mira Galeb''), was used as an official yacht by the late President of the Yugoslav Republic,

Marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

. The ship attained an iconic status among the peoples of Yugoslavia in this role, as well as among the many diverse nations and members of the Non-Aligned Movement. "Galeb" is Serbo-Croatian for "

seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...

History

''Galeb'' was built in 1938 in Genoa as the auxiliary cruiser ''

Ramb III The Italian auxiliary cruiser ''Ramb III'' was built at Genoa by Ansaldo in 1938. ''Ramb III'' was the third of four sister reefer ships all built to the same design. The other ships were the , the , and the . The four ships were built for the ...

'', destined for service in the banana trade between Africa and Italy. After the armistice in 1943, it was taken over by the Germans and turned it into a minelayer under the name ''Kiebitz''. While in Rijeka it was sunk on 25 November 1944 by Allied aircraft. ''Brodospas'' (SHIPSAVING) from Split, raised ''Kiebitz'' in 1948, after which it was taken to the Pula ship building company Uljanik where in 1952 it was reconstructed as a school ship of the

under the new name ''Galeb''. Tito embarked on it the first time in 1952 in Podgora, where he conducted an inspection of the boats in the YWN from the deck of the ship. In the next 27 years ''Galeb'' was in Tito’s service for a total of 549 days, of which, for 318 days, the Marshal was on board, sailing over the Adriatic and other seas on political missions. By Tito’s death, 102 world statesmen had stayed on ''Galeb''. ''Galeb'' is 117 metres long and 15 metres wide with a displacement of 5,754 tonnes. With the speed of it is powered by two

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

diesel engines of 7,200 horsepower in total. The Italians, at one point, offered to SFRJ to remove them and exhibit them in the Fiat museum in Torino. In return, they offered to build an entirely new, modern, school ship, but the Yugoslavs declined. The ship first came to international attention in March 1953 when it brought Tito from Yugoslavia to the River Thames, following the invitation from the British Government headed by Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

. It was the first visit to United Kingdom of a

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

head of state. Due to the yacht's size, ''Galeb'' moored at Greenwich. Proposals for the ship to dock at Malta en route to Britain were refused by the islands' Governor. Tito loved the glamour the yacht conferred on his regime. He used it for parties, foreign visits and diplomacy. World leaders entertained there included Nikita Khrushchev,

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

and

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

. Tito was particularly excited to welcome

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

and Richard Burton, who played Tito in the 1973 war epic '' The Battle of Sutjeska''. ''Galeb'' was used by Marshal Tito from 1948 till his death in 1980. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, the yacht became the property of the

Montenegrin government The Government of Montenegro ( cnr, Vlada Crne Gore, Влада Црне Горе) is the executive branch of state authority in Montenegro. It is headed by the prime minister. It consists of the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers as well ...

. It was sold to

John Paul Papanicolaou John Paul Papanicolaou (1949 – 14 February 2010) was a Greek businessman active in the shipping industry. A friend of the Onassis family, he is best known for his purchase and restoration of the Onassis yacht, ''Christina O'' in 1998, adding the ...

, the same Greek yachtsman who owned the yacht ''

Christina O ''Christina O'' is a private motor yacht that once belonged to billionaire Greek shipowner Aristotle Onassis. At 99.13 metres long, she is the 59th largest yacht in the world as of 2022. History The boat originally served as a Canadian anti-sub ...

''. It was moored on the quayside of the Viktor Lenac Shipyard in Kostrena, a suburb of

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

for a time before being towed to its current location on the Rijeka waterfront. The Croatian authorities placed a preservation order on ''Galeb'' in the hope of acquiring the vessel to become a museum ship. In September 2008 the boat partially sank on its right side after a leak developed in its hull. On 22 May 2009, the ship was sold to city of

for US$150,000, subsequently confirmed by the High Mercantile Court of Croatia. Since then it has occasionally been opened to the public for art exhibitions, conferences and the like. On 16 July 2014, the Mayor of Rijeka announced that the ''Galeb'' would be leased out for mixed use, partly as a museum incorporating the former President's private rooms and some of the engineering space, and partly for commercial activities such as restaurants and bars. Tenders for private sector investment were invited, but produced no response. Funding of EUR 4.5 million was secured as part of Rijeka's successful bid to become European Capital of Culture in 2020. The work is expected to be done by mid-2021. Some of Galeb's furniture has already been restored and is temporarily being shown in Rijeka City Museum awaiting completion of the ships restoration.

Guests

Heads of state

The following heads of state have been entertained on the ''Galeb'': * Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru - India * President Gamal Abdel Nasser - Egypt *

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

- UK * Secretary General Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev - USSR * Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev - USSR * Emperor Haille Selassie - Ethiopia * UN Secretary General and President Kurt Waldheim - Austria * President Nicolae Ceauşescu - Romania * Chairman Muammar Gaddafi - Libya * Prime Minister Indira Gandhi - India

Private citizens

The following people have been entertained on the ''Galeb'': *

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Do ...

* Richard Burton *

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...

References

Bibliography

External links

*
Le fantôme de Tito

Titov "Galeb" postaje muzej

Rijeka kupila Titov brod
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galeb 1938 ships World War II naval ships of Italy RAMB ships Naval ships of Italy captured by Germany during World War II Ships of the Yugoslav Navy Royal and presidential yachts Museum ships in Croatia Ships built by Gio. Ansaldo & C. Ships built in Genoa