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EA-6B launches - Public domain portrait drawing
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At sea aboard USS Kitty Hawk An EA-6B Prowler launches off the ships bow from one of four steam driven catapults. Before jet aircraft came into service in the 1950s, catapults were hydraulically powered. The steam catapult was invented in 1952 by Britain's Royal Navy to improve the launch of the era's new jet airplanes from carriers. Steam catapults draw their power directly from the heat of the ship's engines. Since aircraft carrier engines are large, they have an enormous amount of power. The steam catapult uses this power to fling airplanes weighing as much as 71,000 lbs. into the air using only 300 ft. of flight deck space. Kitty Hawk is the Navys only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier and operates out of Yokosuka, Japan. U.S. Navy photo by Photographers Mate 3rd Class Todd Frantom. File# 030128-N-1810F-006
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.
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