US Navy (USN) Hospital Corpsman Third Class (HM3) Julie Krakowiak provides medical attention to a USN simulated victim during a mass casualty drill on board the USN Aircraft Carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63). In the event of actual casualties, the KITTY HAWK's medical personnel and qualified stretcher-bearers set up triage stations, render medical attention to injured personnel and transport the wounded

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.