One of the interesting maritime craft found at Sava River, Belgrade Serbia is no doubt the 1943 built concrete ship SIP.
The first official idea of using concrete to build a ship dates back to 1848 France. During World War I, due to lack of raw materials, especially iron about a hundred concrete ships were built, many of which were designed and made in America. During WWII, German engineers came up with an idea of using all the advantages of concrete ships, including saving material, and started producing them. There was another important reason for this-a concrete hull was resistant to mines which were the greatest peril for ships during WWII, both rivers and seas. As these mines activated by magnetic triggers, they were completely powerless in contact with concrete.
She was built at Ostswine, Germany at Oderhaff by Schalenbau (Dyckerhoff and Widmann), and she’s one of 2 survivors from that era . The other one is named as CAPELLA with 40.5m length and beam of 7 metres with wall thickness of 80 mm of which since 1988 a technical monument in Rostock, now moored at the Maritime Ship Museum, on the Warnow River in Rostock, Germany.
After the WWII, the ship was converted into the residential ship. During the 90’s the ship was laid up at Sava River without any residents, and she became a dwelling place for homeless people. Up to the year 2009, ship was fully damaged and devastated. Restoration started in 2013 up to 2016 where she was opened as a Cultural Centre.
