The catapult officer gives hook-up instructions to the catapult crew while preparing an F-14A Tomcat aircraft for launch on the aircraft carrier USS INDEPENDENCE (CV 62). The aircraft and deck crew are from Reserve Carrier Air Wing 30 (CVWR-30), which is aboard the INDEPENDENCE off the coast of southern California for carrier qualifications

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.