Use 'em or lose 'em: RAN and RCN carrier use.

The Melbourne and Bonaventure were both not replaced, and coincidently were not used in combat.

Using the Melbourne is pretty easy, a Vietnam cruise could have happened, and possibly even a detterence cruise for the Indo invasion of East Timor in 1975. Was there a situation where Bonny could have been used in combat before her decommissioning? Would that have kept here in service longer and led to her replacement? Would Melbourne have been replaced with a war cruise under her belt?
 
Well I suppose if the Melbourne saw useful service in Vietnam, the Bonaventure could be borrowed to do the same thing. I don't think either would be getting replaced by standard carriers though, both would probably go for helicopter carriers.
 
Given the general Canadian military decline over the years, I don't see a way to see the Bonny replaced. At least, not without a major decision early on in Canada's post war history. Canada did lack a realistic strategy for its carriers post war. It seemed to buy them because it was simply in vogue.

Russell
 
Given the general Canadian military decline over the years, I don't see a way to see the Bonny replaced. At least, not without a major decision early on in Canada's post war history. Canada did lack a realistic strategy for its carriers post war. It seemed to buy them because it was simply in vogue.

Russell

This is true, but it also has to be said that Canada didn't get involved in much after WWII, and they needed to buy all kinds of new gear to go to Korea in 1950. Stopping the decline of the Canadian Armed Forces is easy and has been talked about here ad nauseum, but I think that you can get Bonaventure replaced, though with another fixed-wing carrier is probably a stretch.
 
For Canada the best I think you might get would be a LHA type ship, and even that could be pushing it. Cuts down the crew numbers by a several hundred, you don't have to pay for the jets to put on it, can be argued to fit in more with Canada's international aid and peacekeeping activities.
 
Could you have a crazy 'Red October' type situation where the RCN tracks down and defeats a rogue Soviet sub, with the Bonnie being crucial to the process?

Pretty far fetched, I know.

Wiki says
However, she was involved in major NATO fleet-at-sea patrol during the Cuban Missile Crisis.[1]
Is there a PoD here?

Or, if the Canadian government moved faster, much faster, and bought the Bonnie (or equivalent) in time for use in the Korean War, might that have made a difference?
 
IIRC, Magnificent was getting ready to be depolyed to Korea right when the armistice was signed. That probably the easiest without a major PoD.
 
The Sydney did a Korean tour, but it didn't save the Melbourne's replacement in 1981. Perhaps it might save the Bonny in 1967, but there's a long time between 1953 and 1967.
 
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