The life of this ship began in the Italian shipyard Ansaldo in Genoa where it was built and launched in 1938 under the name of Ramb III as a transport ship for the transport of southern fruits for the Regia Azienda Monopoli Bananas (RAMB) company. At the beginning of World War II, the ship was transformed into an auxiliary cruiser of the Italian Navy and carried food for Italian soldiers in Africa, while after 1943, it became a minelayer of the German army and laid over 5,000 mines in the northern Adriatic area. In that period the ship was renamed by the German Navy – Kiebitz. In 1944, in the bombing of Rijeka, the ship was sunk by Allied Forces. For three years it lay at the bottom of the port of Rijeka. After the ship was towed, in 1947 and overhauled at the Uljanik shipyard in Pula, it became part of the Yugoslav Navy, used as a training ship. After 1953 and the first voyage of Josip Broz Tito to London to meet Winston Churchill, the ship became Tito’s floating residence.

This ship is in a specific manner linked with many states whose individuals worked on its construction and also influenced its destiny and interesting history.

Therefore, the Rijeka Civic Museum addresses this Public Invitation (link na Javni poziv na eng) to its citizens, but also to Italian, German, Austrian, British and other citizens to join the last phase of preparation of the museum display dedicated to the legendary ship Galeb.

If you have any items, photos, videos or just vivid memories that you would like to share with the general public, which relate to any of many roles performed by the ship Ramb III/ Kiebitz/ Galeb, please contact us!
The Rijeka Civic Museum collects physical memories by borrowing or permanently using them, and also intangible ones, available in the testimonies of people linked with the ship in various ways.

You can respond to the Public Invitation via this online form: