Laura Montero, the 14-year-old girl who was evacuated from the Princess Dawn cruise ship to the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) when her appendix burst, says goodbye to Sailors as the ship arrives in homeport of San Diego.

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.