An NP-50 crane is moved into position to remove a damaged F-14A Tomcat aircraft from the flight deck after an emergency barricade landing aboard the aircraft carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63). No injuries were sustained during the landing

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.