She was acquired in the early 1950s by the Navy, which was looking to replace its aging WW2-vintage light carriers Magnificent and Warrior which were deemed too small and slow for the jet age. Several surplus US and UK ships were considered, and the then-mothballed HMS Powerful, a Majestic-class light fleet carrier, was purchased in 1952 from the Royal Navy on the condition that it be refitted with an angled flight deck and steam catapult.
The Bonaventure - named after an island bird sanctuary in the Gulf of St. Lawrence - was commissioned into the Canadian Navy on January 17, 1957, upon completion of its refit and modernization. The navy's new flagship carried a force of about 34 McDonnell Douglas F2H-3 Banshee jet fighters, Grumman CS2F Tracker ASW aircraft (built by de Havilland in Toronto), and Sikorsky HO4S helicopters.
Even with the refit, landing a Banshee on the Bonaventure's relatively short deck was pushing the envelope. While Canadian pilots did it routinely, American Banshee pilots flatly refused to even attempt landing on the Bonaventure during joint operations. The wide-winged Trackers were also a tight fit. Despite this, and because of the hard work and dedication of her crew, the Bonaventure was able by 1958 to conduct around the clock (SUSTOP) operations, keeping four Trackers and two HO4S's in the air at all times, saturating an area of 200 square miles with ASW aircraft. This made the Canadian Navy the only one in the world at the time other than the US Navy capable of conducting around the clock air operations for sustained periods.
In 1964 new Sea King helicopters were added to Bonaventure's arsenal, and in 1966 she docked in Quebec for a "mid-life" refit. This second refit took eighteen months and costs escalated to $11 million (a large amount at the time). With the unification of the Canadian Armed Forces the Bonaventure was de-commissioned in 1970 (only three years after her refit) and eventually scrapped.
See also: List of aircraft carriers
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Displacement: 16,000 tons, and 19,920 tons full loadStatistics
Before 1967 Refit
Dimensions: 192.02 m x 24.38 m x 7.47 m
Propulsion: Parsons single-reduction geared steam turbines, four Admiralty 3-drum type 350 psi boilers, two shafts; 40,000 shp
Speed Maximum: 24.5 knots
Crew: 1200; 1370 war
Aviation: Around 34 aircraft, including:
Flight Deck: 214.58 m x 34.29 m
Radar: US SPS-10 surface search, SPS-12 air search, and SPS-8 height finder
Armament: Four 3"/50 twin mounts, three 6-Pounder saluting guns