Fun Fact #563 Good Man Richard
Fun Fact #563
“Good Man Richard”
When it comes to stories of the great American Heroes, one who is often forgotten is John Paul Jones. Yet as the father of the Continental Navy, he may be one of the most essential. When the Revolution began the American Colonies could not stand up to the might of the British at sea, and so while the other captains decided to mostly smuggle in the early days J.P.Jones decided to play the game by different rules and took his sloop “The Ranger” to the North Sea to kick the British around at home, and whenever things got too rough he’d seek safe harbor at a neutral 3rd country. This worked splendidly and proved so effective that the British eventually decided to invade a Dutch harbor just to finally be rid of “the menace”. They failed but learned two things that day:
1st, This invasion of a neutral port brought the Netherlands and her allies directly into a sister war (two wars fought concurrently against the same aggressor but not coordinated with each other). This war drew much of the British’s empire away as they had to fight not just in Europe now but also in India, around Africa, and the Dutch East Indies just to keep British ship routes open –let alone safe.
And 2nd, J.P. Jones had gained the favor of the French King who gifted him with a new ship to command from a 64-gun Ship of the line. He decided to name this ship after Benjamin Franklin’s famous “Poor Richard’s Almanac” but preferring the French translation he named it “The USS Bon Homme Richard” meaning “Good Man Richard”. He then took this ship to the North sea to kick around the British some more until The Serapis attacked.
The Serapis was smaller and leaner running circles around the Bon Homme. Refusing to give up however, J.P. Jones took the now on fire Bon Homme and lashed her ship together with the Serapis before ordering an evacuation –and assault– of the Serapis ultimately capturing her before the Bon Homme sank. This battle was considered one of the last deciding factors in convincing the French to join the revolutionary war openly.
(The USS Bon Homme Richard on Fire)
Yet that's not the end of the story for The USS Bon Homme Richard as on November 26th 1944 her name was brought back from the depths of history to fight once more for the American cause, with the last ship of the Essex class Aircraft carriers being commissioned and named after her. across 3 wars, she received an array of awards from The US (WW2 Victory medal, 6 battle stars, 2 NUCs, and 1 PUC), South Korea, The Republic of Vietnam, and The United Nations. Sadly her service too has now come to an end having been sold for scrap in 1992 with her steel now used in Geiger counters. This does (technically) mean it could be said she is still assisting in the protection of US Citizens, just her foe has changed once more. Now that’s rad.
As always thanks for reading and please have a wonderful day.
