Onboard the flight deck of the US Navy (USN) Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72), USN Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit 11 (EODU-11), Mobile Unit 9 (MU-9) board a USN HH-60H Seahawk helicopter from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 2 (HS-2). The LINCOLN and embarked Carrier Air Wing 2 (CVW-2) are currently deployed to the Pacific Ocean, during a scheduled six-month deployment

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.