The guided missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59) steams alongside aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68).
Summary
South Pacific Ocean (Mar. 29, 2003) The guided missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59) steams alongside aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and Military Sealift Command combat stores ship USNS San Jose (T-AFS 7) during a Replenishment as Sea (RAS). Nimitz and her Battle Group are scheduled to join other multinational coalition forces conducting combat missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Operation Iraqi Freedom is the multi-national coalition effort to liberate the Iraqi people, eliminate Iraqs weapons of mass destruction, and end the regime of Saddam Hussein. U.S. Navy photo by Airman Maebel Tinoko. File# 030329-N-2143T-006
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.