Secretary of the Navy John F. Lehman Jr. uses an MD-3A tow tractor as a podium while addressing officers and crewmen gathered on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67). The carrier's return to home port has been delayed because of events in Lebanon

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.