A catapult officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS SARATOGA (CV 60) signals with two fingers that everything is ready and an F-14A Tomcat aircraft is ready to be launched. The aircraft is armed with AIM-7 Sparrow missiles on the fuselage and AIM-9 Sidewinder on the wing pylons

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.