The entire crew and passengers were lost at sea when the British mercantile vessel M.V. Zipper floundered in a storm on a voyage from Guyana to Barbados on February 27, 1963. The Zipper was carrying general cargo when approximately 100 miles off Georgetown, British Guiana she encountered a storm and sank.
Before becoming M.V. Zipper this vessel was built as a YMS-1 class minesweeper of the YMS-135 subclass built for the United States Navy during World War II.
History of M.V. Zipper
- This vessel was “laid down” on April 3, 1942, by the Hiltebrant Dock Co., Kingston, NY
- Launched on 10th August 1942.
- Completed 20th March 1943 as YMS-195
- Commissioned USS YMS-195 on 23rd March 1943.
- Named USS Chauvenet and reclassified as a Survey Ship, AGS-11, 20th March 1945.
- Decommissioned in 1946.
- Struck from the Navy Register 3rd July 1946
- Transferred to the War Shipping Administration in February 1947
- Sold in 1947 then became the British mercantile M.V. Zipper.
- Sank in a storm traveling from British Guiana to Barbados in 1963
Specifications of USS Chauvenet
- Displacement 340 t.
- Length 136′
- Beam 23′ 4″
- Draft 8′ 7″
- Speed 14.5 kts.
- Complement 32
- Armament: One 3″/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 20mm mounts, and two depth charge projectors
- Propulsion: Two 1,000bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts.
