A Fighter Squadron 25 (VFA-25) F/A-18C Hornet aircraft flies beneath the refueling boom of an Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield. The aircraft is carrying an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile on each wing tip, an AIM-7 Sparrow missile on its outboard port side wing pylon and a borrowed external fuel tank under its fuselage. VFA-25 is based aboard the aircraft carrier USS INDEPENDENCE (CV-62)

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.