Historic gigayacht involved in accident in Rijeka during museum conversion

A drifting cargo ship has struck one of the most fascinating vessels in 20th-century naval history: the Galeb. The 117-meter gigayacht, currently docked in the port of Rijeka, Croatia, was struck while in the final stages of a complex conversion into a museum ship.

As reported by maritime-executive.comThe collision did not cause any injuries or spills into the sea, but it did cause significant damage to the hull, opening a hole in the port side, towards the bow; fortunately, the penetration occurred above the waterline, without compromising the stability or buoyancy of the vessel.

The accident threatens to slow down an already complex restoration project. The City of Rijeka, the ship's owner, along with its project partners, has invested approximately $14 million in the complete restoration and museum display, with the inauguration scheduled for the end of the year. The initial technical assessments were reported in the Croatian press. novilist.hr They estimate the damage to the carpentry at approximately 182.000 euros, a sum for which the city administration will request insurance compensation.

The damage to the Galeb, although significant, is considered negligible when compared to the dramatic ones it suffered during its life, as the Rijeka City Museum reports on its website.

Built in 1938 at the Ansaldo shipyard in Genoa Sestri with the name Ramb III, the vessel was originally a fast banana carrier for the Royal Banana Monopoly Company. Equipped with powerful Fiat diesel engines, like her sister ships I, II, and IV, she was designed for rapid transport from Italian East Africa, but with the outbreak of World War II, she was converted into an auxiliary cruiser for the Royal Navy, becoming a legend in 1941. Torpedoed in the bow by the British submarine HMS Triumph in the port of Benghazi, she was saved thanks to an extraordinary feat of seamanship: the commander managed to steer the ship in reverse for 900 miles, from Libya to Sicily, until she reached the shipyards in Trieste for repairs.

Her “second life” was under the German flag as a minelayer Kiebitz (she laid over 5.000 devices in the Adriatic), ending with her sinking by Allied bombers in 1944 right in Fiume, where she remained for four years at a depth of 22 metres.

In 1948, the Brodospas company, in an engineering feat for the time, refloated her using pneumatic cylinders. She was rebuilt in Pula for the Yugoslav Navy, and was reborn as Galeb, meaning "Seagull."

In her "third life," from 1952, she became Marshal Tito's presidential yacht and a floating stage for the Cold War. Aboard her, she welcomed leaders such as Nehru, Nasser, Khrushchev, Gaddafi, Indira Gandhi, and even Emperor Haile Selassie, the ruler of the Ethiopian lands for which the ship had originally been built as a merchant ship.

After being decommissioned, abandoned in Montenegro, and following a failed restoration attempt by Greek shipowner John Paul Papanicolaou (who also owned the Christina O), the Galeb was rescued by the City of Rijeka.

The current project, begun in 2019, aims to restore 4.500 square meters of history to the public. The goal is to preserve 80% of this as a permanent museum, presenting the ship's technical and political history through artifacts, photographs, and archive footage. Visitors can explore the original VIP cabins and lounges, restored to their mid-century splendor.

C.G.

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photo: Galed – Rijeka City Museum