On board the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73). US Navy Mess Management SPECIALIST 2nd Class (MS2) Edwin Suarez begins preparations for a traditional Thanksgiving Day meal. GEORGE WSHINTON and her embarked Carrier Air Wing One (CVW-1) are currently operating in the Persian Gulf to enforce UN sanctions against Iraq, by patrolling the no-fly zone. Operation SOUTHERN WATCH, 26 November 1997

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.