Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6), the third United States Navy ship of that name, was named in honor of John Paul Jones' famous frigate, which he had named the French language equivalent of "Poor Richard," in honor of Benjamin Franklin's almanac of that name. Bonhomme Richard (a.k.a. Revolutionary Gator) is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship currently homeported in San Diego, California. The contract to build her was awarded to Ingalls Shipbuilding on December 11, 1992, and her keel was laid down on April 18, 1995. She was launched on March 14, 1997, delivered to the Navy on May 12, 1998, and commissioned on August 15, 1998. Table of contents 1 Mission 2 General Characteristics 3 Armament 4 Deployments 5 Unit Awards 6 The Bonhomme Richard Name 7 External Link Mission The primary mission of USS Bonhomme Richard is to embark, deploy and land elements of a Marine landing force in amphibious assualt operations by helicopter, landing craft, and amphibious vehicle. General Characteristics Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss. Length: 844 feet (253.2 meters) overall, 778 feet waterline Beam: 110 feet extreme, 106 (31.8 meters) feet waterline Draft: 27 feet navigational, 28 feet limit Displacement: 27,565 tons light, 40,500 tons full, 12,821 tons dead Power Plant: Two boilers, two geared steam turbines, two shafts (70,000 shaft horsepower) Speed: 20+ knots (23.5+ miles per hour) Ships Company: 104 officers, 1,004 enlisted Marine Detachment: 1,894 officers and enlisted Armament Two RAM launchers Two NATO Sea Sparrow launchers Two 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts Four .50 cal. machine gunss Three 25 mm Mk 38 machine guns Deployments Operation Enduring Freedom (Dec. 1, 2001 to June 18, 2002) Operation Iraqi Freedom (January 17, 2003 to July 26, 2003) Unit Awards 1998 Green 'H' Force Wellness Award 1999 CNO Safety Award Green 'H' Force Wellness Award Allen G. Ogden Award 2000 Battle Efficiency Award CNO Safety Award Maritime Warfare Excellence Award Engineering Excellence Award Logistics Management Excellence Award Green 'H' Force Wellness Award Allen G. Ogden Award Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (March 22, 2000 to June 8, 2000) 2001 Battle Efficiency Award Navy Unit Commendation (Sept. 11, 2001 to March 3, 2002) CNO Safety Award Maritime Warfare Excellence Award Engineering Excellence Award Logistics Management Excellence Award Green 'H' Force Wellness Award Allen G. Ogden Award Ney Award 2002 Battle Efficiency Award Maritime Warfare Excellence Award Engineering Excellence Award Command, Control, Communications and Information Warfare Excellence Award Green 'H' Force Wellness Award Ney Award Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet Retention Excellence Award Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet Intelligence Excellence Award The Bonhomme Richard Name Previous Bon Homme Richards USS Bonhomme Richard USS Bon Homme Richard (CV/A-31) Would Be Bon Homme Richards In 1864, Congress authorized the 3,700-ton AMMONOOSUC class screw frigate to take the name BONHOMME RICHARD, but the vessel was never built. On September 26, 1942, while still under construction, the name of CV 10 was changed from BONHOMME RICHARD to YORKTOWN (the previous YORKTOWN was lost three months earlier at the Battle of Midway). External Link USS Bonhomme Richard Homepage USS Bonhomme Richard Photo Album This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.