US Navy (USN) Lieutenant (LT) Joe Thompson briefs several Aviation Ordnancemen about the Mark 20 Rockeye cluster bomb ordnance staged on the mess deck before it is moved to the flight deck on the USN Aircraft Carrier USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65). The ENTERPRISE and its embarked Carrier Air Wing 1 (CVW-1) are currently underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting a Composite Training Unit Exercise

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.