Pissed-off Generals in a Meaford snow storm

[Dan Martel]

Below is a quick discussion of this conspiracy theory I wrote for another forum.

It was the INS Vikrant (R11) that was swapped for HMCS Bonaventure (R22). Both were British built Majestic class carriers. The Vikrant went in for repairs at Mumbai in June, 1970. She had a cracked boiler and couldn't get a replacement due to a UK embargo. The Bonaventure was paid off in July, 1970. In 1968 or '69 the Bonnie had come out of a two-year mid-life refit. State of the art ASW.

Officially, the Bonnie was towed from Halifax to Taiwan to be scrapped. It was while passing India that it was swapped for the Vikrant. Or so the rumour goes.

The Vikrant went to sea trials in March, 1971, with a working steam catapult and was available for the 1971 Indo-Pak War.

I like a good conspiracy theory, me, however I think a trained sailor from either Navy would have been able to tell one from the other. Still, as the film director John Ford said, when it comes to printing the truth or the legend, print the legend.

Cheers,
Dan.