A petty officer standing on a catwalk on board the auxiliary aircraft landing training ship USS LEXINGTON (AVT 16) as a tug approaches to help the ship dock at its new home in the Port of Pensacola. The LEXINGTON, previously home ported at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, will operate from the port until the multi-purpose aircraft carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) takes over the training carrier role at NAS Pensacola

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.