A bow view of a Military Sealift Command ship and US Navy ships underway. They are, left to right: the guided missile cruiser USS VALLEY FORGE (CG 50), battleship USS MISSOURI (BB 63), fleet oiler USNS KAWISHIWI (T-AO 146), aircraft carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) AND the guided missile frigate USS RAMSEY (FFG 2)

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.