Her overall arrangement was traditional with the island superstructure set to starboard side, though positioned slightly ahead of midships. The remained of the exposed surface space was used for the flight deck which incorporated a hangar elevator between midships and the stern.
HMCS Bonaventure
The reborn Powerful - now HMCS Bonaventure - was commissioned on January 17th, 1957 under the fighting motto of "Not For Us Alone" and assigned Halifax, Nova Scotia as her homeport. Up to sixteen Banshee fighters (F2H-3 production models) initially made up her direct-contact air arm but these were only fielded as such until 1961-1962 - at which point the air arm converted to an all Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) role consisting of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft types. Included in the carrier's inventory were Grumman CS2F "Tracker" aircraft (added in 1959) and HO4S-3 "Whirlwind" helicopters, both equipped with ASW gear. With the loss of the Banshee force, this inventory became eight Trackers and thirteen Whirlwinds. In time, the Whirlwinds were succeeded by the Sikorsky CHSS-2 "Sea King" helicopter in same role. This resulted in modifications to the ship in 1963 to accept the new helicopters.
The vessel conducted various voyages and NATO-related exercises for her time at sea (including forming part of the allied Western force during the "Cuban Missile Crisis" (October 1962). From 1966 until 1967, the warship was given her final major refit and this consisted of upgraded the old American radar system to that of Dutch design. Two of the forward AA gun emplacements were deleted for better balance at-sea and the mirror landing aid was switched to a Fresnel system. Internally, various sections were improved regarding aircraft management and radiation protection (nuclear war was a very real and major threat of the Cold War period).
The End of the Line
By the end of the 1960s, HMCS Bonaventure was labeled expendable amidst Canadian defense cuts and selected for decommissioning. She accepted her last aircraft landing action in December of 1969 and transported troops for training to Jamaica the following January. She was finally paid off in 1970 and decommissioned on July 3rd of that year - ending her time at sea. Her stripped hulk was sold for scrapping and she was finally broken up in 1971 (in Taiwan) - with just a few of her components saved for posterity (for instance one of her anchors is displayed outdoors at Point Pleasant Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia).
Over the course of her ocean-going career, HMCS Bonaventure was assigned three different hull identifiers: RML-22, RRSM-22, and CVL-22, mainly due to her changing role for the RCN.
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