Bon Homme Richard (CVA 31) - Naval Cruise Book

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es drydock at 1951 52' ou 22 .n n: E-2 si n:u ,us- E? Eu gz Z2 0: msg ok vga: V! D U D 1 'SECOND HHCHH We first saw her through the early winter rains, tied up to a pier in the Moth Ball FIeet at the Navy Yard in Bremerton. We had orders to activate this ship with a man's name-The U.S.S. BON HOMME RICHARD IGood Man Richardl. We had all read in our history books of the original ship so named by John Paul Jones in honor of his friend, Benjamin Franklin, were familiar with the famous battle this little man-of-war had with H.M.S. SERAPIS and John Paul Jones' famous reply when asked if he had surrendered: I HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO FIGHT. - ', 1 , -f ,1 ..,, x is .3 , X' ,M c ,Mon ii A. nm

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USN L, PTAIN C. B. GIL CA U in Wh .E 'C : 5 E E o u COMMISSIONING SPEECH AND PARTY

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52 Q V! VD clear t A VV 1, 7 , qf v Q , M I, , ,V -I -0- L 0 -Q , Q cz 92 I Tugs nose U. U i 2 ll-I E E O I ln the weeks that followed we found that activating an attack carrier is a tremendous undertaking. It looked like a hopeless task to put this cold, uninhabited steel hull back into fighting condition -but we had the support of the Brem Group who had the know-how. Time was limited and we worked hard. We forgot about leave and 48's and concentrated on the iob to be done. .lt