I had a friend who served on The Bonhomme Richard in the early 1960s. He went on to become a maritime attorney after his service was done. May John RIP.
That would have been USS Bonhomme Richard (CV-31), an Essex class carrier commissioned in WWII. This is USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6), a WASP class amphibious assault ship. Both named of course after John Paul Jones’ ship.
Your friend was on the Bon Homme Richard CV-31 Essex Class full size aircraft carrier, commissioned in 1944.
This one is the LD-6 amphibious assault ship, commissioned in 1998.
A somewhat different Bonhomme Richard in the 60s, full WWII-era CV.
Different ship-—that Ben Franklin was a submarine and a boomer at that. The current Ben is a non-nuke assault ship.
A different ship with the same name?
My cousin served on that ship in the 1960’s too. I thought they had retired her.
I had a friend who served on The Bonhomme Richard in the early 1960s.
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I served on the FDR (CVA-42) in the early ‘60s in the Med and recall the earlier Bonnie Dick was there. That ship was not a helo carrier like the one presently, as far as I recall.
The DoD cutbacks are setting up the US for disaster by killing funding for Navy ships/aircraft and Air Force aircraft. ....Their policy changes regarding females and LGBT are not doing anything but weakening our forces.
That would have been the original aircraft carrier B. Richard, which regularly served off of Vietnam.
This is a newer class amplib/helo/vertical takeoff Tarawa class LPH. Comparable to WWII era carriers in size, but oriented to Marine amphib landing and vertrep planes.
The Navy’s STOL/VSTOL F-35 could work off of them though - Probably a major reason the Navy wants the F-35 so badly, even though it doesn’t work as well as it should, is heavier than promised, and is less fuel efficient when operating in VTOL mode.