Commanding Officer, USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), Capt. Thomas A. Parker, presents a tail hook certificate to Natsuo Yamaguchi, member of the Japan House of Councilors.
Summary
Pacific Ocean (Feb. 12, 2005) Commanding Officer, USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), Capt. Thomas A. Parker, presents a tail hook certificate to Natsuo Yamaguchi, member of the Japan House of Councilors. Yamaguchi, along with 17 other distinguished visitors, received a three-hour tour of Kitty Hawk while at sea. Tours of Kitty Hawk are conducted to raise awareness of 7th Fleet missions and the importance of forward-deployed naval forces. Currently under way in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility, Kitty Hawk demonstrates power projection and sea control as the U.S. Navy's only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier, operating from Yokosuka, Japan. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Benjamin Dennis File# 050212-N-9389D-056
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.