A pair of US Navy (USN) F-14D Tomcat fighters, Fighter Squadron 31 (VF-31), Tomcatters, Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana, Virginia (VA), perform a fly-by over the USN Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) [not shown]. The ROOSEVELT and embarked Carrier Air Wing 8 (CVW-8) are currently underway on a regularly scheduled deployment conducting maritime security operations (MSO) on the Persian Gulf

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.