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HMCS Bonaventure was the last aircraft carrier in the Royal Canadian Navy.As HMS Powerful she was laid down at Harland and Wolff in Belfast on 21 November 1943, and launched 27 February 1945. Work was suspended after the end of World War II, and was not resumed until the ship was bought by Canada. She was acquired in the early 1950s by the Canadian Navy, which was looking to replace its aging WW2-vintage light carriers Magnificent and Warrior which were deemed too small and slow for the jet age. Several surplus US and UK ships were considered, and the then- mothballed HMS Powerful, a Majestic-class light fleet carrier, was purchased in 1952Summary of notable events in 1952 . Events January events January 8 West Germany has 8 million refugees inside its borders. January 24 Sudden heavy snowfall in Algeria. January 24 Vincent Massey sworn in as first Canada-born Governor-General of Canada. from the Royal NavyThe Royal Navy is the navy of the United Kingdom. It operates a number of aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, fifteen nuclear submarines, and various other ships, as well as aircraft and Britain's amphibious forces, the Royal Marines. The Royal Navy on the condition that it be refitted with an angled flight deckThe flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. In early carriers, the flight deck was a sort of long flat superstructure built above the rest of the ship; this was and steam catapult.
Bonaventure - named after an island bird sanctuary in the Gulf of St. Lawrence - was commissioned into the Canadian Navy on January 17January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 348 days remaining (349 in leap years) Events 1562 Huguenots were recognized under the Edict of St. 1773 Captain James Cook becomes the first explorer to cross the Antarctic Circl, 1957Events January January 2 San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge. January 3 Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch January 4 After 69 years the last issue of Colliers magazine is published January 5 Russell Endean becomes t, upon completion of its refit and modernization. The navy's new flagship carried a force of about 34 McDonnell DouglasMcDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It has been part of Boeing since 1997. The company was founded from the firms of James Smith McDonnell and Donald Wills Douglas. F2H-3 Banshee jet fighters, Grumman CS2F Tracker ASW aircraft (built by de Havilland in Toronto), and Sikorsky HO4S helicopters.
Even with the refit, landing a Banshee on the Bonaventure's relatively short deck was pushing the envelope. While Canadian pilots did it routinely, American Banshee pilots flatly refused to even attempt landing on Bonaventure during joint operations. The wide-winged Trackers were also a tight fit. Despite this, and because of the hard work and dedication of her crew, the Bonaventure was able by 1958 to conduct around the clock ( SUSTOP ) operations, keeping four Trackers and two HO4S's in the air at all times, saturating an area of 200 square miles (518 kmē) with ASW aircraft. This made the Canadian Navy the only one in the world at the time other than the US Navy capable of conducting around the clock air operations for sustained periods.
In 1964 new Sea King helicopters were added to Bonaventure's arsenal, and in 1966 she docked in Quebec for a "mid-life" refit. This second refit took eighteen months and costs escalated to $11 million (a large amount at the time). With the unification of the Canadian Armed Forces the Bonaventure was de-commissioned in 1970 (only three years after her refit) and eventually scrapped.
See also: List of aircraft carriers
