USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31)

USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31) underway, ca. 1956.
History
United States
Name:	USS Bon Homme Richard
Namesake:	USS Bonhomme Richard
Builder:	New York Naval Shipyard
Laid down:	1 February 1943
Launched:	29 April 1944
Commissioned:	26 November 1944
Decommissioned:	9 January 1947
Recommissioned:	15 January 1951
Decommissioned:	15 May 1953
Recommissioned:	6 September 1955
Decommissioned:	2 July 1971
Struck:	20 September 1989
Nickname(s):	"Bonnie Dick"
Honors and awards:	One battle star for World War II Five battle stars for the Korean War and the Vietnam War
Fate:	Scrapped in 1992
General characteristics
Class and type:	Essex-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	As built: 27,100 tons standard 36,380 tons full load
Length:	As built: 820 feet (250 m) waterline 872 feet (266 m) overall
Beam:	As built: 93 feet (28 m) waterline 147 feet 6 inches (45 m) overall
Draft:	As built: 28 feet 5 inches (8.66 m) light 34 feet 2 inches (10.41 m) full load
Propulsion:	As designed: 8 × boilers 565 psi (3,900 kPa) 850 °F (450 °C) 4 × Westinghouse geared steam turbines 4 × shafts 150,000 shp (110 MW)
Speed:	33 knots (61 km/h)
Range:	20,000 nautical miles (37,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement:	As built: 2,600 officers and enlisted
Armament:	As built: 4 × twin 5 inch (127 mm) 38 caliber guns 4 × single 5 inch (127 mm) 38 caliber guns 8 × quadruple 40 mm 56 caliber guns 46 × single 20 mm 78 caliber guns
Armor:	As built: 2.5 to 4 inch (60 to 100 mm) belt 1.5 inch (40 mm) hangar and protectice decks 4 inch (100 mm) bulkheads 1.5 inch (40 mm) STS top and sides of pilot house 2.5 inch (60 mm) top of steering gear
Aircraft carried:	As built: 90–100 aircraft 1 × deck-edge elevator 2 × centerline elevators

USS Bon Homme Richard (CV/CVA-31) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. She was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, the first one being named for John Paul Jones's famous Revolutionary War frigate by the same name. Jones had named that ship, usually rendered in more correct French as Bonhomme Richard, to honor Benjamin Franklin, the American Commissioner at Paris, whose Poor Richard's Almanac had been published in France under the title Les Maximes du Bonhomme Richard.

Bon Homme Richard was commissioned in November 1944, and served in the final campaigns of the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning one battle star. Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA). In her second career she operated exclusively in the Pacific, playing a prominent role in the Korean War, for which she earned five battle stars, and the Vietnam War. She was decommissioned in 1971, and scrapped in 1992.

Bon Homme Richard (CV-31) was laid down on 1 February 1943 at the New York Navy Yard, being the first Essex-class carrier to be built at the New York Navy Yard. She was launched 29 April 1944 by Mrs. John S. McCain, wife of Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Sr.. The ship was commissioned 26 November 1944, with Captain A. O. Rule, Jr. as her first commander.