060804-N-8273J-036 (Aug. 4, 2006)US Navy (USN) Aviation Structural Second Class (AM2) Rurik Wagner, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 137 (VFA-137), is interviewed by the media during a surprise wedding on the pier at Naval Air Station (NAS) North Island, California (CA), after he returned from a deployment aboard the USN Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72). The couple planned to wed in Las Vegas but his fiancee decided to have a surprise wedding upon his return from deployment.U.S. Navy official photo by Mass Communication SPECIALIST 2nd Class Tiffini M. Jones (RELEASED)

The name Las Vegas was given to the area in 1829 by a Mexican scout named Richard, a member of the Antonio Armijo trading party that was traveling to Los Angeles, and stopped for water there. At that time, several parts of the valley contained artesian wells surrounded by extensive green areas. Las Vegas means the meadows in Spanish. On May 15, 1905, Las Vegas officially was founded as a city, when 110 acres (45 ha), in what would later become downtown, were auctioned to ready buyers. On July 3, 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the appropriation bill for the Boulder Dam later renamed the Hoover Dam. Work started and Las Vegas' population swelled to 25,000, with most of the newcomers, mostly males, working on building the dam. It created a market for large scale entertainment. A combination of local Las Vegas business owners, Mormon financiers, and Mafia crime lords helped develop the casinos and showgirl theaters to entertain the largely male dam construction workers.

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.