bhramos
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As far as military conspiracies go, one could easily rank this right up there, amongst the most incogitable. In fact, a plot like this could very well have been taken right out of a Tom Clancy edge-of-the-seat mil-tech novel saga. But I'd doubt, even he would have risked coming up with a scenario this outlandish, least it gave his publishers a heart-attack, laughing. Then again, quoting the oft-repeated cliché, "Truth is Stranger than Fiction".(sevenoya)
It is well-known that Canada, in the past, operated Aircraft Carriers in its Navy. Equally well-known is the fact that, owing to financial constraints, Canada decided to scrap the last of its operational Aircraft Carriers, the HMCS Bonaventure in 1970. But then, when you are an American Yes-Man, you really have no need to operate your own Aircraft Carrier, save, for the urge to massage your ego 1 .
Coming back to the incident, a decision was then taken to send the ship to a shipbreaking yard in Taiwan [some sources have also indicated Japan]. However, during the course of this journey, authorities in Canada, it is said, suddenly lost contact with the Bonaventure entourage for two whole weeks, when it was estimated to be reaching/passing by Thailand in the 'Indian Ocean'. Two weeks passed, contact re-established, the vessel went on to reach its destination in Taiwan [or, Japan], & was then dismantled. [Today, it would, probably, have been sent to India's Alang shipbreaking yard, as was the initial plans for the French Aircraft Carrier, Clemenceau] .
This is when things get really outré. Certain quarters in Canada, including politicians, are convinced that the ship dismantled wasn't the Bonaventure at all!
As the story goes, India, on learning that the Bonaventure, still a relatively new Aircraft Carrier which had, in fact, received an upgrade, when it was decided to no longer operate it, was being sent to Taiwan [or, Japan], decision was taken to swap its own Aircraft Carrier, the Indian Navy's INS Vikrant, with the Bonaventure. It is possible for those who say so to suggest such a thing because both belonged to the same type, the British Majestic class of Aircraft Carrier, and were, thus, visually identical.
"Rumours persist that the Vikrant was actually replaced mid-life by her sister ship, the Canadian aircraft carrier Bonaventure that was allegedly scrapped in 1971."
"The ship had been sold to Japan for scrap, but after leaving for the Japanese yard, disappeared for two weeks. Then, as though nothing was wrong, the ex-Bonaventure showed up in a Japanese yard to be cut to pieces, and all was well. That is until DND photographs of the hull being cut up suggested to the keen observer that the Indian Vikrant was actually the ship being destroyed."
Indian Aircraft Carrier - a Canadian Conspiracy! - AA Me, IN