Aviation Ordnancemen assigned to the Rampagers of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 83 load an AIM-9X missile onto an F/A-18C Hornet aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69).
Summary
ARABIAN SEA (Jun. 23, 2009) Aviation Ordnancemen assigned to the Rampagers of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 83 load an AIM-9X missile onto an F/A-18C Hornet aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). The Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility supporting operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom as well as maritime security operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Bradley Evans) File# 090623-N-6604E-012
Aircraft carriers are warships that act as airbases for carrier-based aircraft. In the United States Navy, these consist of ships commissioned with hull classification symbols CV (aircraft carrier), CVA (attack aircraft carrier), CVB (large aircraft carrier), CVL (light aircraft carrier), CVN (aircraft carrier (nuclear propulsion) and CVAN (attack aircraft carrier (nuclear propulsion). The first aircraft carrier commissioned into the United States Navy was USS Langley (CV-1) on 20 March 1922.