The ensign is flown at half-mast aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) in honor of the seven Sailors who died aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62).

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.