Aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier was a type of naval warship in Earth ' s 20th and 21st century . Its design and size allowed for aircraft , including fighters , bomber s , and helicopter s , to be launched and retrieved at sea . It was characterized by a long , flat " flight deck " which served as a mobile air base , condensing apron , landing strip , and runway into a small space . Many aircraft carriers after World War II were powered by nuclear fission . " In an alternate 1944 , during , the San Francisco Bay was home to aircraft carriers of the United States Navy . As " " flew into the bay , one aircraft carrier was entering the bay , while the other was anchored near Yerba Buena Island . Later , in New York City , Alicia Travers mistook an uniform patch and a subsequent non - committal statement by Jonathan Archer of , as him having served on , which by that time had been sunk in the Pacific Ocean . " ( ) When the crew of the destroyed starship traveled back in time to the year 1986 , they collected nuclear radiation from the reactor of . This enabled them to recrystallize the dilithium of their captured Klingon Bird - of - Prey . ( ) By the 22nd century it had become a tradition in Starfleet that its starships honored their historical namesake aircraft carrier predecessors with representations of them in any of their interiors ; " Enterprise " ( CNV - 65 ) was represented as a painting in Captain Archer ' s ready room aboard " Enterprise " NX - 01 , whereas the same vessel was in the 24th century represented as a bas - relief in the observation lounge of . ( ENT , TNG ) In the 23rd century a representation of " Enterprise " ( CV - 6 ) was displayed in a gallery on the recreation deck of the refit - . ( ) Background information . The very distinctive profile of the uppermost carrier in the San Fransisco Bay scene in " Storm Front " , strongly suggested it was a member of the pre - World War II to which USS " Enterprise " ( CV - 6 ) had belonged , and after which Gene Roddenberry had named his USS " Enterprise " starship . As she was declared already sunk by Travers , this , historically at least , only left her three class sisters as possible candidates , , after which Roddenberry had originally named his starship in his 1964 " Star Trek is . . . " pitch , the scaled - down version , or , the penultimate American carrier to be destroyed in the war ) , all of which in actuality already sunk by the Japanese Navy by January 1943 . " Enterprise " , having participated in " all " Pacific campaigns save for the , ironically became the sole class survivor and one of history ' s most celebrated vessels , much like its fictional starship counterpart . The San Fransisco Bay scene in " Storm Front " was entirely executed as a CGI effect at digital effects company Eden FX . ( " end credit roll " ) As it turned out , all " Yorktown " - class sister ships were considered at the start of the second season of " The Original Series " by Producers D . C . Fontana and Robert Justman as namesakes for starships belonging to , what they at the time still called , the " Starship " - class , having been introduced into the franchise at a later time in dialogue in the second season episode ( though never firmly established in canon as being ) . The annotations on their memos made it very clear that the two " Star Trek " staffers very much indeed had the WW II carriers in mind when making the name suggestions , and not any other , previous historical vessels , as was abundantly evidenced by the remark Justman made on his memo of 9 August 1967 , which read , " " I think there would be several other candidates , such as " " and perhaps another English carrier , a , a Russian carrier and certainly a Japanese carrier . " " ( " The Making of Star Trek " , pp . 164 - 165 ) Other " Constitution " - class vessels named after aircraft carriers include : The above reference to the " Essex " and the " Eagle " , though , was dropped from the episode as aired , but USS " Eagle " resurfaced a quarter of a century later in , referenced in the " Operation Retrieve " mission charts , courtesy of Michael Okuda . Even " Essex " resurfaced as the ( NCC - 173 ) in the season five episode . At least two other starships , established by production staffers as being named after World War II carriers , were later added to canon in the fifth season episode , and included , Other Starfleet vessels potentially named after aircraft carriers , but not confirmed either way by production sources , included , In " Star Trek IV " , the " part " of USS " Enterprise " ( CNV - 65 ) was actually filled by the conventionally - powered USS " Ranger " ( CV - 61 ) because " Enterprise " was on deployment at the time of the movie ' s filming . ( ) The painting of " Enterprise " ( CNV - 65 ) in Archer ' s ready room was one of a series of four illustrations depicting the historical lineage of " Enterprise " and made by Production Illustrator John Eaves , who , due to his own oversight , had only 24 hours to produce the drawings . Actually , Eaves had produced a series of five ; however , due to space limitations on the wall , one had to be left out . The one chosen to be left out portrayed " Enterprise " ( CV - 6 ) . Set Decorator James Mees recalled of the ready room , " " We were trying to show that [ Archer ] was someone who had a past , a good past , and who remembered that past ; that ' s what the show is so much about . " " ( ) The for described the length of the long range shuttle " " to USS " Enterprise " ( NCC - 1701 ) as " " about the size of a fighter aircraft floating in over the vastness of an aircraft carrier " " . According to " " ( p . 83 ) , Earth - based aircraft carriers were phased out in 2051 .