Well. At least for the last 84 years. And counting. Steeljaw Scribe has it all:

On October 26, 1922 LCDR Godfrey DeCourcelles Chevalier, USN made the first arrested landing aboard the USS Langley, a converted coal collier (ex-USS Jupiter) and the Navy’s first aircraft carrier, underway off Cape Henry, VA.

Already an accomplished aviator (Naval Aviator #7), LCDR Chevalier had pioneered the installation of catapults on the Navy’s battleships and piloted the first plane to be launched by catapult in 1916. In 1917, he commanded the first naval air station in Dunkerque, France during WW1.

Mmmm. Dunkerque. Now that’s what I call an IA.