BYMS-2026
What was the name of RV Calypso from 1944 to 1950?
RV Calypso RV Calypso is a former British Royal Navy minesweeper converted into a research vessel for the oceanographic researcher Jacques Cousteau , equipped with a mobile laboratory for underwater field research . She was severely damaged in 1996 and was planned to undergo a complete refurbishment in 2009–2011 . The ship is named after the Greek mythological figure Calypso . World War II British minesweeper ( 1941–1947 ) . Calypso was originally a minesweeper built by the Ballard Marine Railway Company of Seattle , Washington , United States for the United States Navy for loan to the British Royal Navy under lend-lease . A wooden-hulled vessel , she is built of Oregon pine . She was a BYMS ( British yard minesweeper ) Mark 1 class motor minesweeper , laid down on 12 August 1941 with yard designation BYMS-26 and launched on 21 March 1942 . She was commissioned into the Royal Navy in February 1943 as HMS J-826 and assigned to active service in the Mediterranean Sea , based in Malta , and was reclassified as BYMS-2026 in 1944 . Following the end of World War II , she was decommissioned in July 1946 and laid up at Malta . On 1 August 1947 she was formally handed back to the US Navy and then struck from the US Naval Register , remaining in lay-up . Maltese ferry ( 1949–1950 ) . In May 1949 she was bought by Joseph Gasan of Malta , who had secured the mail contract on the ferry route between Marfa , in the north of Malta , and Mġarr , Gozo in 1947 . She was converted to a ferry and renamed Calypso G after the nymph Calypso , whose island of Ogygia was mythically associated with Gozo , entering service in March 1950 . After only four months on the route , Gasan received an attractive offer and sold her . Jacques Cousteaus Calypso ( 1950–1997 ) . The British millionaire and former Member of Parliament ( MP ) , Thomas Loel Guinness bought Calypso in July 1950 . He leased her to Cousteau for a symbolic one franc a year . He had two conditions : that Cousteau never ask him for money and that he never reveal his identity , which only came out after Cousteaus death . Cousteau restructured and transformed the ship into an expedition vessel and support base for diving , filming and oceanographic research . One of the more unusual expeditions involving the vessel was a survey of Abu Dhabi waters conducted by Cousteau on behalf of British Petroleum ( BP ) in 1954 the first and last time it was used for an oil survey . Calypso carried advanced equipment , including one- and two-man mini submarines developed by Cousteau , diving saucers , and underwater scooters . The ship was also fitted with a see-through nose and an observation chamber below the waterline , and was modified to house scientific equipment and a helicopter pad . The Calypso underwater camera is named after this ship . On 8 January 1996 , a barge accidentally rammed Calypso and sank her in the port of Singapore . On 16 January , she was raised by a crane , patched , and pumped dry before being put in a shipyard . Restoration ( 1997–present ) . Calypso was later towed to the Maritime Museum of La Rochelle in 1998 to be an exhibit . A legal dispute between Jacques Cousteaus widow , Francine Cousteau , and Loel Guinness , the grandson of the original owner , delayed restoration work . During this time the city of La Rochelle withdrew its funding for the restoration . Calypso remained in disrepair . In 2002 , Alexandra Cousteau , Cousteaus granddaughter from his first marriage , tried to become involved in the restoration . The Cousteau Society , controlled by Francine Cousteau , reportedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend Francines exclusive use of the name and to prevent Alexandras participation in the restoration of Calypso . In 2006 Loel Guinness transferred ownership of Calypso to the Cousteau Society for the sum of one euro . In October 2007 the ship was began at the Piriou Shipyard . Work on Calypso stopped in 2009 because of the non-payment of bills by Francine Cousteau . Piriou claimed to be owed €850,000 for work already done . The Cousteau Society counter-sued for defective work . In 2015 a French court ordered Francine Cousteau to settle outstanding yard bills and remove Calypso from a Brittany shipyard or allow the shipyard to sell the vessel . The Cousteau Society announced in 2016 that a solution had been found to allow the ship to return to service with new engines . In 2017 a fire damaged new wooden parts of the Calypso at a shipyard near Istanbul , Turkey , where her refitting had been in progress . Calypso in popular culture . - Calypso was the main ship in all three feature documentary films that Cousteau directed in his career : The Silent World ( 1956 , awarded with the Academy Award for Documentary Feature and the 1956 Palme dOr ) , World Without Sun ( 1964 , which also won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature ) and Voyage to the Edge of the World ( 1976 ) . - John Denver wrote a 1975 hit song Calypso as a tribute to Calypso and her crew . Additionally , he gave all the royalties for the song to the Cousteau Society . - Jean Michel Jarre wrote a four-part composition in tribute to the ship , called Waiting for Cousteau ( 1990 ) . - GWAR wrote a song entitled Je MAppelle J . Cousteau , which was featured on their album Hell-O , originally released in 1988 . It is not entirely clear whether this song is in tribute or slander , but the song is entirely about Jacques Cousteau and his ship Calypso . - The Captains yacht of the USS Enterprise-D , on , was named Calypso by actor Patrick Stewart . He also gave the name Cousteau to the captains yacht of the USS Enterprise-E in homage to the Calypsos famous former captain . - Bill Murray starred in a film homage of Jacques Cousteaus life called The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou . In the movie , Zissou travels the seas in a ship called Belafonte . This is an oblique reference to Jacques Cousteaus ship Calypso . Harry Belafonte is a noted musician who played calypso music on an album called Calypso . While in the film , Belafonte is described as a long-range sub-hunter , like Calypso she was also a former British minesweeper , the Ton-class . - NASA astronaut Sunita Williams bestowed the name Calypso on the third Boeing Starliner space capsule built for the Commercial Crew Program after the ship . - The character Rebecca from the television series Theodore Tugboat is based on Calypso