The warship was, again, placed out of commission, this on May 15th, 1953, but the move was to set the vessel aside for modernization in the Cold War period. Many of the Essex-class carriers remaining in service were given one or both types of modernization packages, "SCB-27" or "SCB-125" - USS Bon Homme Richard was given both.
The former involved reinforcement of the vessel's deck and its accompanying facilities to accommodate larger, heavier jet-powered combat aircraft. The hangar elevators, launching systems and retrieval gear were all addressed as a result. The Anti-Aircraft (AA) suite was updated for the better and the island superstructure completely redesigned to better affect operations. Armor protection was improved as was air-fuel storage space. All of the work served to increase the warship's displacement by as much as 20% which, in turn, reduced maximum speed by about 2 knots.
The latter modernization effort added the modern angled flightdeck and improved seakeeping as well as flight operations. Other work included revisions to the arresting gear, landing system and elevators.
The work on Bon Homme Richard spanned from mid-1953 until October of 1955 (two years was typical for the Essex-class conversions) and she was recommissioned for service on September 6th, 1955. In August of 1956, she began her tour of several with the 7th Fleet which lasted into 1966.
By this point in history, the Vietnam War had been ongoing since 1955 and American involvement only grew during the 1960s. As such, Bon Homme Richard was placed back into an active warzone where she would undertake five total deployments in the new conflict. By now her aircraft stable was a healthy collection of jet-powered warplanes armed with missiles, guns, rockets and bombs. This powerful force was used in Combat Air Patrols (CAPs), interception and bombing/strike duties when called upon. Her commitment to the war arrived in 1970 and, once back in home waters, she was decommissioned a third time on July 2nd, 1971. For her service in the Vietnam War, the warship was awarded 2 Navy Unit Citations (one was eventually replaced with a Presidential Unit Citation).
USS Bon Homme Richard then lay in mothballs for some two decades before her fate was officially sealed - the World War 2, Korean War and Vietnam War veteran was stripped of her military usefulness and the hull sold for scrapping in March of 1992.
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