"Calypso" - the French research vessel

"Calypso" was originally a wooden base trawler for the Royal Navy. The keel was laid on August 1, 1941 at the "Ballard Navy Railway Company" shipyard in Seattle, USA, and launched on March 21, 1943 as BYMS (British Minesweeper Yard). Entered Royal Navy service in February 1943 as HMS J-826. After being transferred to the Mediterranean Sea in 1944, it was reclassified as BYMS-2006 and was based in Malta until 1947. After the war it sailed as a ferry between Malta and the island of Gozo, when it was renamed after the mythical nymph Calypso, who lived on the island of Gozo. In 1950 "Calypso" was bought by Irish millionaire and messenger Tom Loel Guinness and leased to Jacques Cousteau, who retired from the French Navy that year. The rent was very symbolic - 1 franc per year. Cousteau transformed the former trawler into a full-fledged well-equipped ocean research vessel through a series of modifications. The ship is equipped with a diving bell, a helipad with a helicopter, pontoons and platforms. The most interesting idea of the famous researcher was the installation of a glazed observation post at the front of the ship in the underwater part. The ship has become an excellent base for divers, filming, and ocean exploration. In June 1951 Cousteau set sail on a test voyage to Costa Rica. The improvised crew consisted of Coust's wife, 12- and 10-year-old sons and several friends. "Calypso" served Cousteau's research in the world's oceans for a long time and without accidents or painful events. It is being repaired and modernized, and is still used as a research vessel, only now it belongs to Captain Cousteau's widow, Francina, who is the head of the French-American Society "Cousteau".

A small, not very complex, beautiful, well-designed and richly detailed (there is even detailing of the cockpit equipment, helicopter cockpit interior) model for intermediate and advanced modelers. However, taking Your time and working patiently, carefully and accuracy, this model can be made by both an advanced beginner and a modeler with little experience. Only for them it would be good to have a more experienced colleague around and this should not be one of the first more complex models, You make.