Croatia's Oldest Shipyard: Built Warships for the World and Fired Tito

Known as Croatia's oldest shipyard, the Kraljevica Shipyard has been a symbol of the art of shipbuilding in the Adriyatik Denizi for centuries. Throughout its history, it has gained fame not only regionally but also on a global scale, building warships for all over the world. The facility has also gone down in history as the place where Josip Broz Tito, one of the most controversial and historical figures of the period, worked and was fired. With its deep-rooted history spanning a wide period from the Avusturya-Macaristan İmparatorluğu era to the Yugoslavya era, the shipyard has left its mark on both military and commercial maritime history. The traces of this deep-rooted tradition in Kraljevica still continue today in different forms, even though the shipyard went bankrupt in 2012.

The foundations of the shipbuilding tradition in Kraljevica date back to the 18th century. The process, which began when Habsburg İmparatoru VI. Charles assigned Ernest Deichmann to build a port in the region in 1723, paved the way for the foundation of the shipyard. Although Deichmann also evaluated Bakar, he ultimately chose Kraljevica as the suitable location, and the process was shaped by an official decree following the emperor's visit in 1728. In the shipyard, which was officially opened in 1729, two large frigates (warships) were built between 1749 and 1760 after it was declared a war port by the Emperor's successor, Maria Theresa. These early initiatives placed Kraljevica in a permanent and important position on the European maritime map.

In the 19th century, the shipyard underwent significant technological and managerial transformations. During this period, the British operators, the Pritchard kardeşler, who took over the facility, succeeded in building 15 different ships with a total capacity of 5.311 gross tons by 1847. Pioneering the transition from sailing ships to steamships, the shipyard also built the paddle steamer 'Maria Ana', which was launched in 1836 and became one of the most famous ships of its time. During the management of Vatroslav Ignacije Arćanin, who took over operations in the mid-19th century, some of the most magnificent sailing ships of their time, such as 'Grad Karlovac' and 'Josip Juraj Strossmayer', were rolled off the production line.

Coming under the management of the Rijeka-based Danubius company in the early 20th century, the facility operated under this umbrella until the end of Birinci Dünya Savaşı. Passing to the period of the Sırp, Hırvat ve Sloven Krallığı established after the end of the war as a part of the Jadranska brodogradilišta d.d. company, the shipyard focused mainly on the repair of steamships during the interwar period. Its employment, which exceeded one thousand people during the Avusturya-Macaristan period, reached about 1.500 people during the Yugoslavya period, becoming the lifeblood of the regional economy. However, all this operation and employment gained a completely different dimension when a person who would change world history worked here.

One of the most interesting and surprising details in the history of the shipyard is that the future Yugoslavya leader, Josip Broz Tito, worked here as an employee. Employed as a worker at the Kraljevica Shipyard during his youth before becoming a head of state, Tito drew attention as a result of his participation in the workers' movements and political actions of the period. Fired from his job due to these political and union actions he participated in, the young Tito became one of the most important political figures in Europe and the world in the following years. Tito's dismissal is remembered as an unforgettable historical symbol both in terms of Yugoslavya history and the working culture of the region. Following the bankruptcy in 2012, the facility, which fired hundreds of its workers and survived the threat of closure, is still trying to keep the deep-rooted shipbuilding culture alive today by offering smaller boats and maintenance services with a much smaller number of employees.