Galeb
 2019 in Rijeka
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The Galeb was from 1952 to 1980 the state yacht of the President of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito ( Галеб / Galeb is the Serbo-Croatian word for " seagull "). Originally in 1938 as a reefer of RAMB-class built, it was in the Second World War by the Italian navy as an auxiliary cruiser used, then by the German Navy for mine ship rebuilt and lapwing renamed. In November 1944 the ship was sunk in the port of Rijeka . After the war it was used by the Yugoslav Navy lifted and training ship rebuilt.
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history
Reefer ship RAMB III
The ship was in 1938 as a refrigerator ship under the name RAMB III in Genoa shipyard Ansaldo STS to put Kiel . It was the third of four identical ships that were built for the Regia Azienda Monopolio Banana to bring bananas from the Italian colonies in Italian East Africa to Europe. The ships were built so that in the event of war they could be converted into auxiliary cruisers very quickly.
Auxiliary cruiser RAMB III
The RAMB III never went to East Africa. When Italy entered the World War on June 10, 1940 , she was in Taranto , was requisitioned by the Italian Navy ( Regia Marina ) and, like her three sister ships , equipped as an auxiliary cruiser and escort ship. It was armed with two 12 cm cannons and eight 13.2 mm Fla - MG . On November 12, 1940, the ship was baptized by fire . During the British air raid on the Italian naval forces in the port of Taranto on the night of November 12, 1940 ( attack on Taranto ), the Royal Navy sent a squadron of cruisers to the lower Adriatic . This consisted of the three light cruisers HMS Ajax , HMS Orion and HMAS Sydney and the two destroyers HMS Nubian and HMS Mohawk . Shortly after midnight, north of the Strait of Otranto , the squadron encountered a small Italian convoy traveling from Vlora to Brindisi . It consisted of the four Italian freighters Capo Vado (4391 BRT ), Catalani (2429 BRT), Antonio Locatelli (5691 BRT) and Premuda (4427 BRT) and was secured by the RAMB III and the old torpedo boat Nicola Fabrizi . The RAMB III fired 19 volleys and sought the distance, while the Nicola Fabrizi attacked the enemy and was incapacitated, but still escaped. The British then sank all four freighters. The Italian torpedo boats Curtatone and Solferino recovered a total of 140 survivors during the day; 36 men, including those who fell on the Nicolo Fabrizi , lost their lives.
On May 30, 1941, the RAMB III was torpedoed and sunk in the port of Benghazi by the British submarine HMS Triumph . The Italian Navy had the ship salvaged and towed to Trieste , where it was to be repaired.
Mining ship Lapwing
On September 9, 1943, the ship, which was not yet fully operational again, was confiscated by the German Navy in Trieste and put into service in February 1944 as the mining ship Kiebitz under the command of Corvette Captain Walter von Hansmann . It served as a troop transport as early as November 1943. From March to November 1944 the lapwing laid more than 5000 mines in the Adriatic Sea , sometimes together with the Fasana . On November 4, she came across a mine she had thrown herself near Ancona , but managed to reverse as far as Fiume (Rijeka) . There it was sunk the next day in an American air raid.
State yacht Galeb
After the war, Rijeka belonged to the Yugoslav confederation. The ship was lifted in 1948, repaired and from 1952 used by President Josip Broz Tito as a state yacht. Tito was known for his fear of flying , he covered a total of 86,000 nautical miles by ship. The decor was moderately luxurious. During his "peace and friendship missions", Tito was accompanied by a band band and singers.
During the Yugoslav wars, the former service ship lay off the Montenegrin coast and was looted.
In 2001, the government of Montenegro sold the half-wreck for 750,000 dollars to the Greek shipowner John Paul Papanicolaou , who had the yacht extensively restored in a Croatian shipyard. Subsequently, the ship was declared a national heritage by Croatian authorities, making it impossible to leave the country. In 2010 it was bought by the Croatian city of Rijeka for $ 150,000. In Rijeka, the Galeb is to be converted into a museum ship.
Known guests of the ship
See also
literature
- Erich Gröner : The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 3: Submarines, auxiliary cruisers, mine ships, net layers, barrier breakers. Bernard & Graefe, Koblenz 1985. ISBN 3-7637-4802-4 .
- Georg Lux, Helmuth Weichselbraun: Derelict & Forgotten - Lost Places in the Alps-Adriatic Region . Styria Verlag, Vienna / Graz / Klagenfurt 2017, ISBN 978-3-222-13551-4
Web links
- Article about the Galeb on AdriaNews ( Memento from January 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
Footnotes
- ↑ The others were RAMB I , RAMB II and RAMB IV .
- ↑ Alberto Santoni: L'attacco inglese a Taranto. Rivista Italiana di Difesa, November 1990, pp. 88-95 (ital.)
- ↑ Cristiano D'Adamo: Regia Marina: November 12th, 1940
- ↑ Crew lists of the Kriegsmarine : Walter von Hansmann (born April 19, 1899 in Vienna; Korvettenkapitän from April 1, 1941), commands: 3rd Sp-Flot. Kdr. (09 / 1943-11 / 1944); 2. Escort Flottile Chief (11/1944 - end of WW2)
- ^ Chronicle of the Naval War 1939–1945, November 1944 , Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart
- ↑ Tito's legendary yacht has been auctioned , The World , May 22, 2009 accessed 5 October 2010
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Bid to rebuild Tito's floating palace , Times online, April 23, 2006, accessed June 14, 2010