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From the Log Book of BON HOMME RICHARD 1955 -1959

1955-CV-31 becomes CV-A-31 as BON HOMME

RICHARD is recommissioned an attack aircraft

carrier 6 September 1955, and is placed under

the command of Captain Lamar P. Carver. Shake-

down and crew training commence in October.

1956-CVA-31 sails for the Orient in August. Captain

F=J. Brush takes the helm from Captain Carver in

Subic Bay, R.P., in November. The ship visits

Hong Kong, the Hawaiian Islands, and the

Japanese ports of Robe, Beppu and Yokosuka.

1957-Bonnie Dick returns to San Francisco in

February where she enters drydock for further

alterations, again raising her displacement. She

leaves for a second Far East peacetime cruise 10

July. During the cruise she becomes the first

ESSEX-class carrier to operate the Douglas

Skyray fighter-bomber and the large Douglas

Skywarrior bomber. A highlight of the tour is

the visit of Generalissimo and Madame Chiang

Kai Shek at Kaohsiung, Taiwan. BON HOMME

RICHARD arrives at Alameda 11 December.

1958-CVA-31 moves up the Pacific coast to Bremerton

Shipyard where her 3" 50 caliber gun mounts are

removed and the forward elevator is enlarged to

accommodate the big Douglas Skywarriors. In

October, Bonnie Dick deploys again for the

Western Pacific.

1959-BON HOMME RICHARD becomes the first

carrier to originate a live television program in

the Orient when a show is televised from the

flight deck while the ship is in Robe, Japan, in

the spring. Bonnie Dick returns to Alameda 18

June and redeploys 12 November on her fourth

peacetime cruise.