Frieden

The Frieden is the former German motor vessel Dresden operated by the VEB Deutsche Seereederei Rostock. Since 1970 it has been used as a museum ship.The Dresden was built in 1956/57 at the Warnow Shipyard. It was the fifth Type IV ship in the first batch of 10,000 tonne piece-goods freighters that were built in East Germany's shipyards after the Second World War. Because the first ship of this series was christened Frieden, the other ships of this series of 15 new vessels were classed as Frieden type merchant ships.On 27 July 1958 the ship was handed over to the Deutsche Seereederei shipping line and it operated until 1969 on scheduled services to East Asia, Indonesia, Africa, India and Latin America. After serious defects were found in the engine room that would have resulted in excessive repair costs, the ship was decommissioned in 1969 and opened on 13 June 1970 as the "Rostock Shipbuilding Museum" . Part of the ship also acted as a youth hostel for a time.Today it is part of the Rostock Shipbuilding and Shipping Museum in the IGA Park and contains comprehensive exhibitions of shipbuilding history. Topics include Shipbuilding in East Germany, Shipyard Operations, the History of Maritime Radio Communications and Navigation. In addition, there is a collection of various types of ship engine. Many areas of the ship have been preserved in their original state and give an impression of life on a merchant ship in the 1950/60s.