Shipbuilding in Yugoslavia (1945–1960)

Abstract

Yugoslav shipbuilding suffered great material damage during World War II. Even that which was not destroyed had very little value at its end. Shipyards had to be built and upgraded according to new and modern concepts. All adopted construction plans and projects of renewal, reorganisation, and modernisation, as well as parallel efforts in production and investment construction, in Yugoslavia were aimed at developing an industrial branch that had been of very little economic importance for the country before World War II. For that reason, significant financial resources (around 28 billion dinars) were invested in the development of the shipyard in the observed period, which enabled larger-scale shipbuilding to begin during the 1950s.

            Given the permanent military threat to the country in the first post-war decade, shipbuilding in that period placed emphasis on the construction of ships for the needs of the navy. A large number of vessels were built for the needs of the Yugoslav Navy, which significantly contributed to increasing the country’s defence capability. However, we must point out that the first fleet program from 1947, which, among other things, foresaw the delivery of 4 cruisers, 20 destroyers, and about 100 submarines to the navy, was never carried out.

            Due to the reduction of the danger of war, starting in 1953, Yugoslav shipyards began to pay more and more attention to the construction of ships for the needs of the merchant marine and for export. In the last five observed years (1956–1960), shipbuilding became a distinctly export industry, placing more than half of its products on foreign markets. The increase in shipbuilding production in this period also had a favourable effect on the development of many other industries (ferrous metallurgy, electrical and mechanical industry, etc.), but above all it had a great influence on the improvement of the Yugoslav foreign trade balance.