(from the left to right) US Navy Aviation Ordnanceman AIRMAN Denver Foster, US Navy Aviation Ordnanceman AIRMAN Antoni Daniels and US Navy Aviation Ordnanceman Third Class Martin Gutierrez man a fifty caliber gun mount on a Close-In Weapons System (CWIS) on board USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN 75) during the aircraft carrier's transit through the Suez Canal. Truman is on its maiden deployment and is scheduled to return to its homeport of Norfolk, Virginia

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.