A flight deck crew member paints the inside of an F-14 Tomcat aircraft air intake valve aboard the aircraft carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63). Crew members of the KITTY HAWK are participating in a damage control exercise to test their readiness in the event of emergency

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.