USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31)

USS Bon Homme Richard (CV/A-31), the second United States Navy ship of that name, was named in honor of John Paul Jones' famous frigate, which he had named the French language equivalent of "Poor Richard," in honor of Benjamin Franklin's almanac of that name.

Bon Homme Richard was a 27,100-ton Essex-class aircraft carrier built at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York. Commissioned in November 1944, she went to the Pacific in March 1945 and in June joined the fast carriers in the combat zone and took part in the final raids on Japan. With the end of hostilities in mid-August, Bon Homme Richard continued operations off Japan until September, when she returned to the United States. Operation Magic Carpet personnel transportation service occupied her into 1946. She was thereafter generally inactive until decommissioning at Seattle, Washington, in January 1947.

The outbreak of the Korean War in late June 1950 called Bon Homme Richard back to active duty. She recommissioned in January 1951 and deployed to the Western Pacific that May, launching her planes against enemy targets in Korea until the deployment ended late in the year. A second combat tour followed in May-December 1952, during which she was redesignated CVA-31. The carrier decommissioned in May 1953 to undergo a major conversion to equip her to operate high-performance jet aircraft.

Bon Homme Richard emerged from the shipyard with an angled and strengthened flight deck, enclosed "hurricane" bow, steam catapults, a new island, wider beam and many other improvements. Recommissioned in September 1955, she began the first of a long series of Seventh Fleet deployments. Additional Western Pacific cruises followed in 1957, 1958-1959, 1959-1960, 1961, 1962-1963, and 1964, with the last including a voyage into the Indian Ocean.

The Vietnam War escalation in early 1965 brought Bon Homme Richard into a third armed conflict, and she deployed on five Southeast Asia combat tours over the next six years. Her aircraft battled North Vietnamese MiGs on many occasions, downing several, as well as striking transportation and infrastructure targets. Occasional excursions to other Asian areas provided some variety to her operations. Bon Homme Richard was ordered inactivated at the end of her 1970 deployment. She decommissioned in July 1971, becoming part of the Reserve Fleet at Bremerton, Washington. Following two decades in "mothballs" she was sold for scrapping in March 1992.