US Navy (USN) Weapons Department Sailors direct a forklift carrying ordnance in the hangar bay of the USN Aircraft Carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) during a weapons on-load. Weapons Department Sailors are responsible for the handling, storage and maintenance of all live ordnance and weapons on board the KITTY HAWK

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.